Got Hope?
Do you remember the old “Got Milk?” ad campaigns? If so, you likely had the image of some celebrity or athlete holding a glass of milk and sporting a milk mustache come to your mind.
I want to start a new campaign and call it “Got Hope?” Instead of athletes and celebrities, it would feature moms and dads like you and I who have a child impacted by special needs. It would feature people fighting cancer. It would feature people who are struggling for various reasons. Although, the people would need to be sporting something other than a glass of milk and milk mustaches.
Hope today can seem like a fleeting thing…even in Christian circles.
In the last few months I have seen hope placed in many different things. A couple of popular choices that I have heard is a hope that there will be a vaccine developed for Covid-19 so life can return to normal. The most current hope lies in the elections. People of both parties hope their candidate will win and have high hopes for what their candidate will do if elected.
As parents of children impacted by special needs, we often place our hopes in doctors, support from friends or family, therapies, an upcoming surgery or some other needed resource.
But what happens if that candidate doesn’t get elected or does and doesn’t live up to the expectations you have? What happens when that therapy doesn’t work? What happens when that cancer treatment doesn’t cure your loved one’s cancer? What happens when those friends or family aren’t there to support you. What happens to that hope?
When our hope is in these things, it becomes fickle and changes like the wind. If only there was something constant that we could put our hope in. Oh wait, I guess there is. How easy it is to become distracted or forget where our true hope lies.
In a world that is constantly changing and that can leave you feeling like a grain of sand being tossed uncontrollably by the sea, there is a constant. We have a God that created us in His image. He is unchanging from the beginning to the end of time. He loved us so much that He provided us with a savior. He sent His only son to die and rise again in payment for our sin so that someday we can be reunited with Him in heaven.
So let me ask you. “Got Hope?”
Even as a follower of Christ, it can be easy to get distracted and discouraged. Over the next three weeks, I’m going to share with you three things that help me when hope seems like a fragile thing.
Written by Jonathan McGuire
