Signs of Hope

       I was asked by a young person this week if the world is really going to end in 2012.  There is a new movie out based on the supposed predictions of the Mayan calendar.  The movie is very graphic with earthquakes, erupting volcanoes, tornadoes, cities brought to utter destruction, and thousands and millions of people dying.  Of course, quite improbably, the major figures of the movie get to drive, fly, and boat away from the destruction, always escaping death by mere seconds.  If they didn't, there wouldn't be a plot line.

       Now, we both understood that we were talking about a movie not reality but the question was real.  It's a question that people have been asking since before the birth of Christ, even in those cultures without knowledge of Jesus.  Will the world really end in disaster and what happens to us?  And ultimately the question is about God.  Does God really care for us?

       After a devastating flood where the levee between a town and a river was breached, I was allowed in (with other response people) with residents just after the National Guard had pumped the water back behind the levee.  Residents had spray painted on their houses things such as, 'don't tear down', 'we'll be back', 'under renovation', etc...  Where the water had been the deepest, into the second story of houses and everything had been lost, residents had painted in big letters on their house, "God is here".

        Everything was not all right and the way between the chaos and moving back home was long, hard, and full of pain.  That truth was clear.  It wasn't a sign that it was okay but it was a sign of hope for the future but even more so of comfort for the right now.  Even in the midst of the destruction, the houses full of mud and ruined clothes, furniture, and possessions, in the freezing drizzle, God was present.

       As the homeowners and other residents told me that day and in the months that followed, God was there.  They experienced God's love and hope in the hands and feet of the National Guard who worked to pump the water back behind the levee and restore it.  In the hands and feet of those that had come out in boats to rescue them in the dead of night, and who greeted them with blankets, food and dry clothes in the shelters.  God was there as volunteers helped to salvage what they could from above the water line, washing clothes, shoveling out the smelly mud, and cleaning putrid food from refrigerators.  God was with them.

        To me this is the clearest sign of hope in the midst of apocalyptic destruction and the gospel we can proclaim even in the face of death. God does not abandon us.  Ever.  As Paul writes, there is nothing that is big, bad, or strong enough to separate us from God's love; not even the end of the world.  (Romans 8:38-39)  For God brings life not death.

       That's the truth that faith gives us.  God is with us always.  Nothing can happen that take us away from God's love and promise of eternal life.  Anyone can find joy in the glory of sunshine and pleasure; it's finding God and trusting God in the midst of the ruin that we need.   And that is the hope that only faith can give us.  It is what the psalmist writes about in Psalm 23.  Even in the valley of death, God is with us.  People of faith live not in fear of what terrible things might happen but live in the joyous hope of what God has promised: light, life, and love.  Read Psalm 23.