I saw a bumber sticker on a car today that jogged a long ago memory. "Got Hope?" Of course that is a word play on the "Got Milk" add, it's still a good question. Suddenly, even though I was driving home from buying week-end groceries, I was an eight year old sitting on the front pew, listening intently to a story my dad was telling: During the war (I assumed WWll) there was a submarine that sank to the bottom of the ocean after being struck by ammunition. As the sailors were desperately trying to get in touch with a near by ship, they got word that divers had found them and were trying to rescue them. As they waited, it is told that there was the tapping of Morse Code from inside the ship "IS THERE ANY HOPE?" I don't remember the outcome of that story, only that I was very sad for those soldiers facing a watery grave. As I drove along, almost home by now, I really thought about that question, let me ask it of you, Is there any hope? Hope for our nation, hope for the young men and women fighting on foreign shores for us, hope for the many homeless living under bridges and in alley ways, hope for those so steeped in debt that they are on the verge of losing their homes? Hope for someone stricken with a dread disease, hope for the fallen Christian, who after having known the truth turns his back on God? Are you tapping on the walls of your own prison asking, praying, hoping for a good outcome? We let ourselves get so swamped by worry that it is hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel, then our physical body and mental capacities begin to fail us. Imagine the people in Chili, asleep in their beds, being awakened by an earth quake of such magnitude, if they had known before they went to sleep it was going to happen, they would have made arrangements to be some place safe, key words: if they had known. Yesterday I wrote about the importance of listening to warnings, to watching for signals, to knowing right and wrong, so that we are prepared to live the best life we can. Luke 21:34-36 "But be on your guard. Don't let the sharp edge of your expectation get dulled by parties and drinking and shopping. Otherwise, that Day is going to take you by complete surprise, spring on you suddenly like a trap, for it's going to come on everyone, everywhere, at once. So, whatever you do, don't go to sleep at the switch. Pray constantly that you will have the strength and wits to make it through everything that's coming and end up on your feet before the Son of Man." Hope? Proverbs 13:12 Unrelenting disappointment(or hope deferred) leaves you heartsick, but a sudden good break can turn life around. Proverbs 31:24 So be strong and courageous, all you who put your hope in the Lord! Hebrews 11:1 Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see. 1Peter 3:13 If with heart and soul you're doing good, do you think you can be stopped? Even if you suffer for it, you're still better off. Don't give the opposition a second thought. Is there HOPE? An old song says:Whispering hope, oh, how welcome thy voice, Making my heart in its sorrow rejoice. I believe, I have hope!