Hoping For The Good Life
This week I was thinking about my favorite mentor during my high school years—a Scottish radiator mechanic (he was Scottish, the radiators were American.) “Uncle Joe” as I came to call him, first reeled me in with his wife’s mesmerizing lemon meringue pie. I never even liked it before I met her.
Looking back, the most important truth Uncle Joe taught me was how to hope. He told me never to confuse:
What I hope for and Who I hope in.
I could talk to him about anything I hoped for—
we covered a fair bit of ground: College, career, girls, marriage, God’s will, friendships, exotic destinations, (he always wanted me to visit the “old country” but the kilt thing kind of threw me off), cars and houses and stuff. Like anybody, I had so many “hoped for’s”.
Now, I see that that all these “hope for’s” set me up for 2 opposing realities:
Prosperity (when temporal things I hope for come true)
Adversity (when temporal things I hope for do not come true).
What I discovered is it doesn’t matter whether I am in prosperity or adversity—either way, if I am hoping in people or things, I am so set up for eventual disillusionment and despair. Make sense to you?
It’s legitimate and motivating to hope for many things in life, but if I hope in things or people, instead of in God, I am toast.
After high school, I read about this “hope difference” from several people, including Kierkegaard, Ironside, and Henrichsen. I got a lot out of Walt Henrichsen’s Thoughts from the Diary of a Desperate Man.
I’m so excited about this new website because it’s going to fill up over the next months and years with scores of stories of people like you and me from all over the world. People who are discovering how to hope. Living TrueFaced always puts you in the land of hope. And, the place of grace teaches you how to hope.
If Amy Lynch’s video birthday letter to her dad doesn’t make you hope in God, you should’ve known the big lefthander before he experienced the healing and freedom of God’s grace. Before then, John didn’t even want to have children for crying out loud. In fact, I don’t think he even liked children. Oh, there’s hope here! (Let me know how Amy impacts you or how you used her video to encourage others.)
i just watched amy’s video. that is both beautiful and powerful. thanks for the vulnerability to share it with the rest of us.
For a parent of a teen this video is sooo encouraging to me. We are in the thick of it and living truefaced before my daughter has truly been making a difference…God is good, He is so good and His changing her heart (and mine). Trusting, believing God is who He says He is, maturing me into who He says I am…grace flows like water here. All b/c of Him. This video was a glimpse of the future. Glory to God!
If I were to just come across this video I would just write it off as something contrived to illustrate a point. I am from a generation that has grown tired of “real life” illustrations to drive in spiritual concepts. But I know that this is different and that what is shown in this video clip is an authentic display of a daughter’s love for her father. Amy is a normal and relevant collage age student. She just happens to have an exceptional relationship with her family. I can say this because I know this family well and they have let me into the most vulnerable places of their lives. I have watched them live when they are not worried about being watched and I feel compelled write that what is displayed here is the real thing. I am so proud to say that I know many of these men, women, and families who powerfully communicate the truths of living an authentic lives through God’s grace. I can honestly say that they live out the truths more profoundly than they formally communicate them. This is refreshing to me and gives me courage that I too can live this way. I am thankful to be a part of a community of believers who live out beautiful regenerated lives even after the video cameras have been turned off.