In HOPE

  In HOPE 6.13                                  back to home                        David Timms

Ministry Resource

Calvin Miller has a good book out - A Hunger for the Holy (Howard, 2003; 193 pages). With his usual poetic style and biblical wisdom, he shares delightful insights about life, death, and faith.

Hope Happenings

Do you have a will or last testament? Here in the United States, will or no will means you are likely to leave at least 6-8% of your gross assets to the government. One solution is a Revocable Living Trust. It's a helpful way to better protect and steward your resources for family and the Kingdom. Hope International University can help you understand and set up this simple mechanism. Interested in more info? Contact Dr. Leroy Fulton at [email protected]

 

Hope International University
Fullerton, CA 92831

 

" Pray for me that I not loosen my grip on the hands of Jesus even under the guise of ministry to the poor." (Mother Teresa)


Never Alone

A decade ago, I visited India. The sights, sounds, and smells left a deep impression. But the real surprise? Everywhere, at every hour of the day and night, I saw people. Laborers slowly placed pavers on a city street at 2am. Men and women walked in the rural fields at every hour of the day. The roads seemed constantly noisy and busy, especially with Leyland trucks belching out clouds of black exhaust.

Never alone, you could feel claustophobic in open spaces.

My experience in India draws attention to a greater spiritual reality. Everywhere we go, we continue to be surrounded by people. Sometimes they have flesh and blood like us; most times not. Our entire lives are immersed in the company of the Called.

Those in Christ who have died before us have not abandoned us through death. Instead, they have joined the cloud of witnesses who continue to observe us (see Hebrews 12.1).

It seems that the gathering of past saints into eternal bliss does not separate them from us. On the contrary, those saints and family across the bar are the cheer-squad urging us to run with endurance the race that is set before us.

The Presence of Christ is awesome, but this crowd of onlookers is also wondrous. The ancient (and modern) gnostic notion that eternal reward means escape from the physical and precludes any connection to the material world is simply false. The dichotomy of physical and spiritual does not stand up in light of Scripture.

Need we pray to these people? Or seek to re-connect with them? No. The writer to Hebrews urges us to "fix our eyes on Jesus." The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are our track companions. But we do not run the race unnoticed by earlier contestants. Indeed, we honor them by learning from their journeys and remaining faithful to our calling.

This invisible crowd envelops us. We live in community and find constant company even when we sit seemingly alone.

Those who have passed from this life to the next remain surprisingly near to us. They sit in the stands, with bated breath, watching and perhaps cheering. They anticipate that glorious day when the races all finish and the celebrations begin for all God's people, together.

In HOPE -

David

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David Timms serves in the Graduate Ministry Department at Hope International University in Fullerton, California. "In HOPE", however, is not an official publication of the University and the views expressed are not necessarily those of the Administrators or Board of the institution. "In HOPE" has been a regular e-publication since January, 2001.

For back issues of In HOPE, see http://www.hiu.edu/inhope/