by Bob Wilson

I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us. Phil. 3:13-14.

Last week as I was out in the garden picking cucumbers, I thought: “ Well, this will be the last picking for this year.” The plants were losing leaves and there weren’t many new blooms so I figured that this was it. Looking back at the yard I also noticed that the leaves of one of our maple trees were starting to turn a pretty yellow. Again I thought “this is pretty early for this to happen.” Along with the cooler weather when you add all these things together you realize that change is on the way. Fall doesn’t officially start until September 22 but sometimes things have a way of not following along with the calendar. I hope for the farmer’s sake that the frost that the cooler temperatures bring will hold off so that local crops will be harvested without any problems.

You may have noticed that I used the word hope in the above sentence. It’s the word that you use when you don’t know how things in the future will turn out. As a Christian under God’s care, hope can have a special meaning. We not

only hope for conditions to change, but in a God who can change them. For example:

· Jonah started out running from God, but ended up influencing a whole metropolis.

· Thomas started out wracked by doubt but ended up taking the gospel all the way to India.

· Peter was disappointed with his inability to withstand pressure and was also disappointed with him-self, but he ended up being a great Christian.

· John Mark was rejected by a high-ranking Christian leader. He (was seen as a quitter) but ended up tapped by the Spirit of God to write one of the gospels.

· David bounced back from several devastating failures: moral, leadership, career, and so on.

In all of the above cases and also in our own lives, whether we bounce back or not has to do with one question: “Does that person have hope?” Hope believes in future possibilities and also in a God who is already there. My hope is in a God who can weave purpose into uncertainty.

Men's Moments