Hope Alive!
Robert Dawson
1 Peter 1:3-5
Not long after Kristal and I got married we moved to NC and settled down for our time in seminary and while we were there, like all Americans, we started getting these letters from Publisher's Clearinghouse Sweepstakes telling us that we were eligible to win the million dollar prize and that no purchase was necessary to enter.
Every year I would fill it out hoping, just hoping, that Ed McMahan, the face of the sweepstakes at the time, would show up at our door with that great big check. Each year I would send in that form with fresh hope and anticipation. Despite being a finalist year after year and even buying some magazine subscriptions one year just to make sure my name was in the pot (never trusted the no purchase necessary and after a few years of not winning my no purchase my theory was proven true) we never won.
Each year the result was the same - a hope that went unfulfilled.
Every now and then we still get letters like that in the mail. It may be from an automobile dealership with a bunch of scratch-offs saying if all your scratch offs match that you could win a brand new car.
Now, I know better, there is no need to laugh at me, but every time I get one of those things a little spark of hope rises up within me. Maybe this is the one. Maybe they made a mistake and mailed the winning advertisement to someone who actually lives within driving distance of the dealership.
Every time I get something like that - or even pulling the Monopoly pieces off a large Coke at McDonald's I find that hope lives.
''Would you say my hope in things like that is secure and certain? Or would you say it is empty and in vain?''
1. I think we all know the answer to that question.
2. Those things are not out of the realm of possibility but highly, highly, highly unlikely and far from a sure and certain outcome.
It never hurts to have hope. As a matter of fact we need hope.
Someone once said, ''Human b ...
Robert Dawson
1 Peter 1:3-5
Not long after Kristal and I got married we moved to NC and settled down for our time in seminary and while we were there, like all Americans, we started getting these letters from Publisher's Clearinghouse Sweepstakes telling us that we were eligible to win the million dollar prize and that no purchase was necessary to enter.
Every year I would fill it out hoping, just hoping, that Ed McMahan, the face of the sweepstakes at the time, would show up at our door with that great big check. Each year I would send in that form with fresh hope and anticipation. Despite being a finalist year after year and even buying some magazine subscriptions one year just to make sure my name was in the pot (never trusted the no purchase necessary and after a few years of not winning my no purchase my theory was proven true) we never won.
Each year the result was the same - a hope that went unfulfilled.
Every now and then we still get letters like that in the mail. It may be from an automobile dealership with a bunch of scratch-offs saying if all your scratch offs match that you could win a brand new car.
Now, I know better, there is no need to laugh at me, but every time I get one of those things a little spark of hope rises up within me. Maybe this is the one. Maybe they made a mistake and mailed the winning advertisement to someone who actually lives within driving distance of the dealership.
Every time I get something like that - or even pulling the Monopoly pieces off a large Coke at McDonald's I find that hope lives.
''Would you say my hope in things like that is secure and certain? Or would you say it is empty and in vain?''
1. I think we all know the answer to that question.
2. Those things are not out of the realm of possibility but highly, highly, highly unlikely and far from a sure and certain outcome.
It never hurts to have hope. As a matter of fact we need hope.
Someone once said, ''Human b ...
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