Finding Momentum

I’ve been think­ing a lot about how hard life is.

It’s been a rough month for every­one. Folks suf­fer­ing through can­cer, lay­offs, rela­tion­ship losses, and pass­ings in the fam­ily. Sto­ries of con­fu­sion, back­stab­bing, heart­break, and con­fu­sion are bub­bling up right and left. What do we do in this despair?

The wife of my old pas­tor was recently diag­nosed with Stage IV lym­phoma. It crept up on her, silently and sud­denly. Read­ing emails my pas­tor sent, I was struck by how raw the feel­ings of fear, loss, and pain were.

But far over it all was a tone of resilience. “We’ve called this theme of this sea­son of our lives ‘Don’t waste your can­cer’” I hear how deter­mined they are to face this silent killer with faith and con­tinue run­ning this race with endurance.

This has been a bit of a rough patch for myself as well. I’m not quite sure how to describe it.

Yes­ter­day at small group we were talk­ing about Jesus and his suf­fer­ing on earth and on the cross. How in the end, we can endure great suf­fer­ing because we hope in the eter­nal (the things unseen) and, pow­er­ful and reas­sur­ing to me, that Jesus him­self endured our suf­fer­ing. He knows exactly what it’s like.

Don’t waste your can­cer. What’s it like to hope instead of being par­a­lyzed by fear?

Don’t waste your suf­fer­ing. What’s it like to look beyond our­selves to oth­ers and Jesus instead of descend­ing into a pit of despair?

I want to know this. To hope, to rejoice, to con­tinue on the Mis­sion. We may not know it now, but we know it nonetheless.