"No Hope"

I spoke with a fellow today who was pretty down. He had just received news the night before that his mother's cancer would take her in one to five years. Before he went back to work, he declared in an emphatic tone, "No hope!"

He's been keeping my husband and me updated on his mom. As far as I know, he doesn't know the Lord, and neither does his mom. In all of the health battles and even death that we've dealt with in our family, I don't know of a time that we could ever really say that we had "no hope". We've agonized, prayed (ok, begged God) for help and healing, grieved, cried and even been downright depressed; but we've never been completely without hope.

I didn't feel that it was the time to preach to him. He had just a few seconds of free time and I had responsibilities to take care of as well. I am praying for an opportunity to share the eternal hope that we have. Health concerns continue to weigh on our family. We recognize that, at least within the next ten years, death will make his unwelcome call again. We will grieve again. We'll also cling to our hope in Christ again (Hebrews 6). We'll rest assured that even though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, evil will ultimately have no lasting effect on us (Psalm 23). I pray that I can have an opportunity to offer this friend that hope that we have.

With that in mind, I ask, "How's your hope today"?