I have a new view of hope these days.
Everyone knows what hope is:
but its legit definition is simply
the emotional state that promotes the belief of a positive outcome.
I throw the word hope around entirely too often
rarely understanding the weight of it.
“I hope so,”
or “there’s just no hope.”
Around the world I have found that every single person revolves around…
their desperate search for hope.
The thousands of people crammed into the hundreds of beautiful temples…
all bowing down to idols made of wood.
Believing the lies of generations
that those are the only thing that will save them.
Hopeless pursuit.
The street boys who steal and beg
in order to find value in their lives…
who get threatened, beat up and sometimes raped on a nightly basis…
just because they believe the lie that they will find more hope on the streets
than at home.
The orphans who eat food out of the trashcan
in order to sustain their little bodies for another day…
because their parents have died of AIDS.
Some find their hope in bottles.
Others in drugs.
whether cocaine or pain pills or tylenol.
Some in something as simple as food.
Others find it in bending over the toilet
in order to have the “beautiful” bodies they see in hollywood.
The divorce rate in America is higher than ever…
because people rush into marriages thinking they have found their “hope”
but soon realize that they are still empty and hopeless.
The president searches for hope for the country.
the homeless search for somewhere warm to lay their heads.
girls in trafficking hope they will not be raped again tonight…
so they can hold on to the microscopic feeling of self worth they have.
People find themselves doing good deeds in order to find hope that they will not
spend eternity in hell.
Every choice we make whether good or bad reflects or desperate search for hope.
God has blown me up with HIS hope…
yet somehow I still search it out in other things.
I’m learning that I must wake up daily and proclaim it over my life that
He is my only Hope.
With this comes responsibility.
Now that I know hes my hope I refuse to be selfish with it.
I want to proclaim from the rooftops the absolutely satisfying hope he suffocates me in daily.
and I will.
Passion number one.
Coffee is my second passion.
For dumb reasons and deep reasons.
Lets address the obvious.
It is caffienated.
Everyone loves the random boost…
or the dyer need to make it through the day…
but get this.
Coffee shops are crucial places.
Sometimes I grab a book and go to the local Bux
get a cup of joe..and watch people.
The best conversations are had over coffee.
Conversations that last 15 minutes or 8 hours.
I love what goes down in coffee shops.
To the left there is that cute ancient couple wrapped in their daily reads…
Directly in front of you there is that first date that is so awkward you can’t stop watching.
To the right is the local soccer moms catching up on the daily drama.
You have the business men discussing their upcoming presentation.
You have the high schoolers doing their homework over there.
You have the smokers out side just chillin.
You have a few other people watchers around that you make uncomfortable eyecontact with
then give a half smile that you have been caught watching one of your kind.
From my experience the best bible studies and edifying conversations have gone down in
coffee shops…
I know the Lord loves coffee.
Coffee shops just have that feel to them.
Maybe its the brilliant smell.
Or the feeling while looking around that for just a few minutes there is no rush in life.
Even over here on the other side of the world…
yeah the “shop” may seem janky but it is the same feeling.
The coffee may be 50 cents but the conversations are the same.
People are just comfortable.
Whether you like coffee or not….
It is always welcoming and you can come for hours or just for a few.
It’s brilliant.
On that same note, I think coffee from the drive-thru is a crime.
If you are going to pay $5 to get your coffee…
atleast have a conversation with it.
or awkward eyecontact with a fellow people watcher…
somethingggg.
Passion number two.
The concept of a melody is my third passion.
I have always thought melodies are just songs.
or musical notes.
which yes– correct.
I love me some music.
everything about it. I sometimes think in songs.
But the legit meaning of a melody is the overall noise of something.
Yes the noise we hear with our ears but recently I have seen it in a different light.
I am currently writing this in a hammock in the middle of the bush in Cambodia…
and from the sound of things the “melody” around me is freakin annoying…
200 kids running around screaming throwing their trash on the ground
playing tag and laughing dramatically…
annoying.. right?
These kids wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for the Lord appearing 3 years ago to our contact Vuthy,
saving him from his junk
and giving him a vision to open up an english school
for all the kids out in the villages who would usually not get the opportunity.
Because of this vision there are 150 kids who know Jesus who wouldn’t have otherwise.
So the surface melody seems obnoxious,
but the true melody of this place is so beautiful.
The same goes in the opposite situations.
Churches all around the world may sound absolutely gorgeous
but the conditions of peoples hearts make the melody…
not the music up front.
I have been harping and praying through what melody my life plays.
I desire it to be exactly what the outside seems like.
Passion number three.
So there they are. My three passions. Yeah the coffee one is ridiculous but whatever it really does make the world go around. They are all very close to my heart. The Lord has blown me up with a vision for the future where they will all be intertwined to do His will. I am just waiting on His timing. He says he will give us the desires of our hearts… these are my desires.
To have a place that is..
abounding with hope for the hopeless
that is supported by a coffee shop
and that has a melody that brings music to the Lords ears.
Everyone has passions meant to be used for His glory. What are yours?
