The year began with terrorist Mir Qazi being sentenced to death for a rifle attack outside CIA headquarters, killing two. The top-ranking enlisted soldier, Sergeant Major of the Army, was suspended for allegations of sexual misconduct. The U.S. government acknowledged a “secret war” in Laos. Timothy McVeigh is convicted of his role in the Oklahoma City bombing and sentenced to death. Thirty-Nine Heaven’s Gate cultists committed mass suicide. A New Jersey high school senior gave birth in her school and left the newborn to die in the trash. Ramzi Yosef was convicted of planning the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. Michael Carneal opened fire on a prayer group in a Paducah, Kentucky high school killing three people.
On this particular evening the air seemed especially cold, and the night very dark. I remember asking myself, exhausted from the long, hard meeting, “What are we doing bringing another child into this crazy, messed-up world?”
I was tired and overwhelmed, and felt guilty and a little selfish for being excited about Emily’s recent birth. What kind of future would Emily and Kaitie face? Would their days be even darker than this December night? Would there be any hope?
Fast-forward twenty years and we’re still talking about terrorists, sexual misconduct, and school shootings. But there is also hope; something that doesn’t make the news. Something that we frequently take for granted.
Kaitie is busy ministering the love of Christ in various ways. From a smile and hard work at camp, to children’s ministry at church, she is sharing the hope we can each find in God. She also works in an “outpost” called elementary school shining a light for young lives to see and emulate.
Emily is serving God as a ministry student, extending hope and joy to her fellow students. Among other duties, she serves as a dorm chaplain. Sometimes the road is hard, and the days are long and stress-filled, but she sees the fruit of her efforts every day.
I am thankful for a God who knows and holds the future. A God who does not get tired of speaking words of hope to his children lost in despair or depression.
On a cold, dark December evening things can look very bleak. Sorrow can easily consume you, and the future can be obscured by doubt and fear. But I can tell you that, twenty years later, you will see hope. Like the first tulip of the spring peeking through the last blanket of snow, new life will quietly break through and brighten your horizons.
Don’t lose sight of hope. All is not lost. The future is not as cold and dark as it seems tonight. Christmas can be a season of hope and expectation. The light has come.
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” - John 1:1-5 NIV
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