Hope

I've been on vacation this past week. Most vacations I'm at least able to stay connected through my iPhone. This one I was without everything, even a computer with Internet access or a LAN line. Crazy how God puts you in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico to get you to have time to rest.

While resting, I did a lot of reading. I actually finished two different books, Columbine by Dave Cullen and Without a Word by Jill Kelly. Different is probably an understatement. As I was thinking of what to put on the blog, I realized how similar they were in parts. Hopefully I'll be able to get that across as I type out my thoughts.

I read Columbine first. It was a hard read but a captivating one. I found it interesting just how much God's hand was protecting so many people on April 20, 1999. The plans made were much worse than what actually occurred. While reading about the two shooters, Dylan & Eric, I was heartbroken for their lack of hope. They were on this earth for the sole purpose of self gratification and saw no chance for anything better than what they thought was their reality. Other people around them saw the hope but they never did. They never even grasped a shred of it.

Without a Word started out on a similar path. No killing involved, no desire to hurt others but Jim & Jill Kelly started off pursuing immediate gratification. They wanted feel good moments and thought life was about making themselves happy through love, money, and fame. It wasn't until they got the diagnosis that Hunter, their 2nd born and only son, had Krabbe Leukodystrophy that Jill started searching for something more. Jill shared many of her journal entries in the book. It was interesting to see the focus of her journal entries change as she searched for hope in something more than her abilities. When she did accept Christ, her outlook changed. The disease her son had wasn't so much there to destroy her and her family but it was there to point her to Christ. While she still mourned, and continues to mourn, the death of her son, she had the hope in Christ that he was dancing in heaven and that she'd be reunited with him again one day. Later, when Jim became a believer, he found comfort in the hope of a future as well.

So how does all this relate to Special Needs Ministry? Very easily, we are here to provide our families an avenue to experience the hope they long for. Many families who come into our doors on Sunday mornings are believers searching for a church home where their whole family is accepted. There are some, however, who hear there is a safe place for their son or daughter with special needs and they just want a break. If that means going to church for an hour, they'll take it. Many families who we come into contact with are not believers and have not found the hope. You can tell by looking at their face and listening to their stories. The deep despair is evident. What a great time to tell them of the hope Christ offers.