Reasons to Hope

I preached on the 'Execution of John the Baptist' this past weekend. I believe that Mark intentionally inserted this account in the midst of a narrative on the apostolic ministry of the twelve to provide a preview of "coming attractions"; namely, the crucifixion of Jesus and the promise that those who follow Jesus will suffer greatly. Ending with a verse from chapter 13, I reminded myself, and those who heard my words, that those who endure to the end will be saved.

Most of us are sprinters. We often are not terribly fast, perhaps, but nonetheless we prefer the shorter distances. The shorter the better! The nice thing about a sprint is it is over quickly, even if you are slow. It provides us time to do other things. Long distance running, on the other hand, is time consuming. A few years ago I did a half marathon. Running non-stop for two hours feels like a long time. There is plenty of time for thinking and pondering. There are also endless opportunities to say, "I quit!" "How much long will this take?" sort of pounds in your head. Especially if you are a sprinter running distance....

Life is like that. It is an endurance run. Things happen in small segments, but they are part of a much bigger, much longer story. I tend to be impatient. How about you? I live in a culture where the words "quick" or "fast" mean better. Instant results is the baseline for my expectations. So when things happen to worry me, I want the solution to come fast. I want God to rend the heavens and make a personal appearance 'pronto' and fix it: punish the bad guys, reward the good guys.

In my last blog entry I shared about our Saturday conversation. I heard two stories that day which resonated with my insight that the future is glorious. One took place years ago. A parishioner had been in an abusive marriage. The divorce proceedings were not going well, her husband and his father had local political connections. The Judge was going to take her children from her. She was at the brink of despair. Just prior to the trial, the judge, a friend of her ex's family, dropped dead on his way to the mail box. The new judge had a different take on the situation and her children were returned. (Her ex-husbad shot her, an additional bit of information). The point of the story? Things can change in unforeseen ways.

A less dramatic example. My daughter took the SAT exam a couple fo months ago. The Memphis school which hosted it did a poor job. The exam started late, kids were placed in a large room where they sat at the same tables, the proctors were ineffective and there was much noise and disruption. My daughter does very well on this sort of thing, so she came home with stories of the insanity, but was able to laugh about it. Even so it was upsetting. These exams are important for the kids' future. I was irritated. A couple of weeks later her grade came in the mail. Well, actually there was no grade, the test had been invalidated because of the problems. She was given a retake date which happened to be last Saturday; the same day that our youth group left on a mission trip. So SAT test day was sandwiched between packing and the bus trip. It just added to our irritation.

She and another girl took the test, rushed back to the bus, which had waited for almost an hour and left. However, her mom picked her up so I got the story. She said that the test was easier because there was more math (her specialty) and the essay question was a perfect fit for her. She was very excited about how it had seemed to go. So, perhaps, the trouble and frustration was worth it. Higher scores mean better scholarships.

Saturday, as we talked about threats and negative trends, those two stories reminded that things work out, often times in remarkable ways. It is easy to get discouraged. It is easy to give up. It is easy to not endure and fold up. But there is a reason to trust. Things can work out. God is out there, doing His thing. That is why Jesus said things like "Do not worry" and "Do not let your heart be troubled."