Do you have hope?

It is not hard to see the divisions that exist in our world today.  Our nation is divided… Our world is divided, and it is painful for me to see so much hatred and animosity.  However, last week I was reflecting on Pearl Harbor Day.  If we think things are bad today, we have to remember that seventy six years ago the world seemed to be torn apart.  No one knew what was going to happen or if things would ever be put back together.  It is amazing the people of that generation decided to take the steps needed to restore unity.   They believed they could make a better world with hope.

We live in a world of uncertainty, and that can be pretty terrifying.  However, people have faced incredible evils in the past and they have found ways to believe in hope.  That is also exactly what the Bible teaches this Christmas season.  Even when we have found ourselves in a land of deep darkness, we can believe in light.  Jesus brings good news for all people.  When Jesus came to this world, God’s people were totally lost, but Jesus came to show them what grace was all about.  Today, I pray we could open our eyes to God’s Love.  May we live a life filled with Hope!

Peace!

Brian

The waiting of Advent

When I was a child, my family had this Advent and Christmas calendar.  Every day through the month of December we could open a window and look at a scripture passage for the day.  We also took time each week to lite candles on our Advent wreath.  As a child, I loved these traditions!  They were pretty simple, but they meant so much to me. 

Today I feel like the months fly by so much faster than they used to.  It used to feel like Christmas would never arrive.  Today, I feel like I’m lucky if the Christmas tree goes up before the 25^th.  There is just so much going on.  However, I hope we can all take a breath today.  Advent is a season of preparing our hearts.  The Bible promises that God is coming to this world, not just 2000 year ago, but every day of our lives.  If we don’t take time to prepare ourselves, we may be too busy to notice the smile of a friend, the help of a stranger, or of a humble baby being born…  Today, I hope we can each take a little time to notice God’s presence.  I hope we can start up an old tradition that we may have lost sight of.  I hope we can believe that God is always breaking into this world to show us Love!

Blessings!

PB