Where is the hope?
Haiti is real to me.
Not in theory.
No as analysis.
But as the deepst part of my heart.
A week ago today I woke up after spending the night in Miami, wrestling through whether I should continue my trip to Haiti or head back to Wilmington. As I reached out to trusted friends to get their advice, one sent me the following text:
In the moment, I remembered a quote from Chuck Colson I heard over 30 years ago and quickly answered, as I headed out the door to the airport:
But I have continued to ponder these questions all week. Where is the hope? What gives me hope?
When we founded Haiti Awake, we chose three words for our logo:
Relationships. We believe we earn the right to share the Gospel through relationships. We also believe that discipleship happens in relationship.
Hope. The only Hope any of us have for this life or the next is found in the finished work of Christ. The Gospel gives us Hope.
Gospel. That’s in the center, between relationships and hope, because the Gospel is what binds it all together. The Gospel should always remain at the center of all we do at Haiti Awake.
How many times have I repeated the above when asked who we are and what we do at Haiti Awake?
What gives me hope is what has given me hope through the years. We can say “all my hope is in Jesus” but until we’re put to the test, we don’t know if that’s really true.
A faith that hasn’t been tested isn’t a sure faith.
I keep meditating these verses:
Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man, and He will dwell with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the former things have passed away.
He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.
(Revelation 21:3 - 4 and 22:20)
This is our hope. He is coming. And we pray it will be soon.
The struggles of this life are His way of loosening our hold on this world, giving us a longing for the life that is to come, reminding us that this world is not our home, that we were made for more.
