HOPE

Hope is necessary in every condition.Samuel Johnson

Hope is a waking dream.Aristotle

Hope doesn't come from calculating whether the good news is winning out over the bad. It's simply a choice to take action.Anna Lappe

A few thoughts on the HOPE! Through the thoughts of the above, and those of many others, one of the things that stands out about hope is that it perseveres!
It's the call to action, the waking dream, the light in the darkness!! Hope stands where others fall. Hope extends to the broken, the lost, the weary. Where we may burn out, become disheartened, experience discouragement, hope doesn't!

Hope, by definition means there is hopelessness!Hope is a journey, a discovery, a choice. We all have the option to jump on board...

As Anne Lamott says:
Hope begins in the dark, the stubborn hope that if you just show up and try to do the right thing, the dawn will come. You wait and watch and work: You don't give up.

Hebrews 3:6
But, Christ is faithful as a son over God's house. And, we are his house, if we hold on to our courage and the hope of which we boast.

I am not ashamed to say I have hope in Jesus Christ. As Peter describes it, a living hope! I am confident that we, as the house of God, the body of Christ, can display a living hope to a hopeless world.

As we head towards a year of mission in the UK under the banner of HOPE 2008, I am reminded that hope perseveres. It requires courage and boldness, watching, and working, attitude and action.

In the dark world, we can shine light
In this searching world, we can display hope.