Hope

Hope is a small word of just four letters, but an awful lot rests on it.  To be without hope is a truly desperate situation indeed.  When we lose hope we find ourselves in a very vulnerable place, a place where everything can just fall apart in amidst a sea of chaos.

Christian hope stands apart from many of the other things that can  influence our lives.  It is something that no one can take away from us, it is something that comes with a cast iron guarantee.  When we put our trust in Jesus, then we have a friend who will never let us down.  It doesn't mean bad things won't happen.  It does mean that we will be given the strength to bear the challenges that lie before us.  Even in the Old Testament, we are promised real hope - summed up,perfectly in these words from Isaiah:

Isaiah 40:28-31 NIV
[28] Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. [29] He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. [30] Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; [31] but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

The very first morning I turned up at Goffs Oak Methodist Church, I was at a very low point.  The words from verse 31 were on a wall hanging above the organ.  I knew at that point I was in the right place.  A place where love and hope is found amidst fellowship with God's people.