Where Hope is Alive

"Direct my footsteps according to Your Word..." - Psalm 119:133

It sits on my kitchen table every day, waiting, as if to announce: "Your day begins here."

Often it does.
But truth be told, not always.

And at the end of those days, I wished I had.

Because whether it's that one,
Or the cool ones with a gazillion language flavorings on my phone, 
It is life to my soul.

And so much more:

A road map.

A fountain of wisdom.

A source of peace and comfort.

A banquet meant to be devoured.

Beautiful in its phrasing.

Raw and honest in its content.

Where men and women unabashedly live their love for God.

Where men and women are unafraid, in their humanity, to yell at God and get angry or frustrated.

And know that when they do, He's still there.

Some pages of the one sitting on my kitchen table are dog-eared, heavily underlined, and dotted with coffee stains.

Some pages are crisp and white, which probably means they are filled with invisible question marks.

Sometimes, its voice is so loud, the letters and phrases explode within.

Sometimes, its voice seems to be speaking to anybody else but me.

Until that day you are reminded one more time that it's not the words, really, anyway.

The power is in the One behind the words.

The One who alone is faithful and true, the God of all comfort and wisdom, the giver of Life;

When all other people and things and stuff in our lives fall short of the mark;

When nothing makes sense, when confusion is everywhere, when all around seems unhinged.
Where hope is always alive...

...Especially that day in the midst of months of darkness that seemed to have no end,
When that Voice that seemed to be speaking to anybody else but you,
Suddenly, spoke so loudly that the letters and phrases on the page exploded within:

"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." —Romans 15:13, NIV

A hope that is not wishful thinking but anchored in the only One with a perfect resume;

A hope that is not "out there somewhere: but that becomes as real and as close as your next breath.

The perfect theme song for this wonderful, often-crazy-unpredictable Journey;
The kind of tune that is good to have stuck in your head.

A hope that restores...joy!

And peace.
And trust for putting one foot in front of the other.
Over and over again.

An incomparable kind of hope that makes that which sits on my kitchen table every day

"The best-selling book of non-fiction" of all time.

"Hope is the music of the whole Bible—the heartbeat, the pulse, and the atmosphere of the whole Bible.”

—A.W. Tozer

[Adapted from 2017, 'Theme Music"]