These Days Give Me Hope

This title seems strange in the times we are living in. There are many days I think about how trying these times are. We can't seem to agree on anything in this world, and it seems that the only common ground is the hate and fear of the things we don't understand. It's a world much different than the one our parents grew up in, and it can be so very unsettling, for lack of a better term. But, these days give me hope. When I say these days, I mean this weekend. Every year, this weekend re-kindles a fire deep inside my soul. I feel a stirring deep insidel. Good Friday, the darkest day in all of time, is a day of reflection on the ultimate sacrifice paid for our sins, for us. We ask God for mercy, we thank him for his son, we reflect on our sin that put him there, and we weep as we  reflect on the cross. On this day, I always feel anxious, nervous, almost excited. There is no earthly event that compares to what happened on that day, but I think of a child the week before Christmas or an athlete the day before a big game. Something big is coming! Something that can change our lives forever. Something that makes us want to shout with excitement. Hope is coming! Sunday is coming! This weekend always brings me thoughts of a dear friend who left us too soon. More than his birthday, more than the day he left this earth. I think of him most on Easter. It's strange, but as a believer, I know it's God. I know it's his way of reminding me of the hope that his resurrection brings. Even in what seemed so unnecessary in his death, there is hope. It wasn't over then. It wasn't finished for him, and it wasn't finished for our friend.. There was hope. There was a place for him to go. There were streets of gold and no more tears. There was hope for him on that day when he left. There is hope even in the most hopeless of times. In the darkest of times, there is hope. In the best of times, there is hope. There is hope for the sick, hope for the poor, hope for the rich, hope for the homeless, hope for the non- believer, hope for the widow, hope for the angry, hope for the whore, hope for the drunkard, hope for the orphans...there is hope. There is hope for us all. There is ALWAYS hope. When there is nothing else, this Sunday promises hope.  Imagine the joy, the hope, the feeling of seeing the empty tomb. It's empty, he's not there! HE HAS RISEN! Y'all, we have hope. There is nothing more precious to cling to than that. These days give me hope.