Hope, Love, Joy, Peace
Romans 15:13 - May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.
Greetings from our still and quiet living room as Thomas is taking a nap. All week long as I've pulled up to the church I've noticed there was a particularly large amount of trash all around the church. While it is inevitable there will be a certain amount of trash in a downtown location, there just seemed to be more than usual this week. Normally the ministries that work with our unsheltered friends throughout the week go above and beyond in helping us keep things clean, this week was just a bad week. To make things worse, someone has been filling our dumpster in the middle of the night causing an incredible mess that spreads easily in the wind. You know those weeks when you're tired and overwhelmed and one thing ends up representing all those feelings for you? This week it was trash for me. I did not have an easy solution and really didn't have time to find one.
Guess what? When I pulled up to the church yesterday morning, a younger man I recognized as one of our unsheltered friends was sitting there and got my attention. He told me if I could get him one of those trash sticks he'd pick up some trash for me. He said he didn't want any money he just thought our neighborhood shouldn't have trash. I honestly almost told him "no thanks" because I thought it wouldn't make much difference and I had too many other things to do. Instead I stopped and realized this man unknowingly was being used by God to break through my frustration with a breath of hope.
God took the very thing that was weighing so heavily on me causing discouragement and frustration and used this friend to transform it into joy and hope. I was joyful that this man felt a sense of belonging at First Church. I was encouraged at least some of our trash problem would be taken care of for a day. I was given hope because I was once again reminded that God knew my frustrations and cared enough to give me this breath of hope.
The message of Advent and Christmas is that God broke into the darkness and the unknown with the ultimate gift of hope in Jesus! As you face times of frustration, disappointment, fear, or worry look and listen for God to breath into you the breath of Hope.