hope

since about april, i've been really thinking and learning about the idea of hope. i've been wanting to blog about it, but i keep trying to go into many directions so i'll attempt to start with one direction for now.

why hope?

because, Hope Lives.

really, and for the story sake.

two days after i got home from nairobi in april, a free book showed up in the mail (i love those days) from compassion international. the timing could not have been better. it's called Hope Lives, and i've blogged about it half a dozen times already so you're probably tired of hearing about it or already reading it. it's a 5 week study of sorts about poverty, what God is doing around the world, and our responsibility to serve the hurting. i'm pretty sure that God had Amber Van Schooneveld write this book exactly for me to read in 2008, i hope that's ok to say. seriously, she had to have known everything i was thinking about and wondering and trying to articulate.

here's the introduction:

Each morning before I start my day, I turn on my laptop, sit on my couch, and browse through the news. The stories I read make it hard to believe in hope. Stories of staggering poverty, stories of overwhelming numbers of AIDS victims, stories of communities gutted and raw from war, stories of children exploited and hungry and discarded. I close the laptop and sit. Overwhelmed and paralyzed. Overwhelmed by the enormity of the problems. Paralyzed by not knowing what to do.

And yet, I serve a God of hope. A God of love. A God of healing.

Where do I, where does the God of hope, fit into this confounding world around me?

Sick of sitting on the couch, I went on a journey to find out. And I've found that hope lives.

I stuck my nose in the corners of the world and peeked into crannies, and found that hope is very much alive. Our God of hope is on the move to bring restoration to me and to you and to this world full of hurt.

He's calling each of us on a journey of restoration with him. Hope lives, and God is on the move.

Believe that please. Hope Lives. God is on the move.

Find joy in the hope he offers, find purpose in living a life of hope, steward the hope by sharing it with all you know.

Romans 5:4-5

because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.

as i try to find a way to put my thoughts into words, i'd love to hear your thoughts about hope.