We Have Hope

This week, a few needs have come up in my surrounding community.  One, a dear friend and brother in the Lord was diagnosed with lung cancer.  Sean is 27, I had the privilege of singing at his wedding a few years ago.  He and his wife Sara have been amazing friends to me over the years, their heart for others and willingness to serve is refreshing and encouraging.  I will let Sean explain more about his recent diagnosis- he has a way with blogs....http://seantrank.com/2013/10/15/under-water/

Today the weight on our community's chest was added to by another prayer request.  Rachel and David Liebman, who I have also h ad the joy of working with have a beautiful little baby boy, Micah, who fell and hit his head this morning and has bleeding on the brain.  It is beyond sobering to be so reminded of the brevity of life while feeling a slight entitlement to be able to say how unfair all of this is.
The only word that came to my mind as I read the stream of prayer requests in my inbox was hope.  If ever there was a time we needed hope, it's now.  Hope that ultimately God will be faithful to be the good, kind, sovereign, generous, powerful, gentle and comforting God He is.
And then I stumbled on 2 Corinthians 4.  I couldn't pick one verse to sum up the weight of everything happening, so instead- I'm going to just post the whole thing here.  I hope it encourages you the way it encouraged me this morning, I hope it reminds you of God's love, heart, and the weight of His glory.  (perhaps later I will blog on the contrast between the weight we are experiencing for our friends and the weight of His glory...hmmmmm)
But for now- I am just gonna paste the chapter in I find the bible says things better than I do-
please pray for Sean and Micah; and be encouraged- we have hope.

 

2 Corinthians 4

The Light of the Gospel

 Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God,^[a] we do not lose heart. ² But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice^[b] cunning or to tamper with God's word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone's conscience in the sight of God. ³ And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. ⁴ In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. ⁵ For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants^[c] for Jesus' sake. ⁶ For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

Treasure in Jars of Clay

⁷ But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. ⁸ We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; ⁹ persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; ¹⁰ always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. ¹¹ For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. ¹² So death is at work in us, but life in you.
¹³ Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, “I believed, and so I spoke,” we also believe, and so we also speak, ¹⁴ knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence. ¹⁵ For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.
¹⁶ So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self^[d] is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. ¹⁷ For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, ¹⁸ as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.