God Can Change Wishful Thinking Into Hopes Fulfilled

Thanks for visiting this web-site. We also invite you to view our newest web-site – Ray of Hope Ministries On-Line Bible Study. click here www.rohmbible.wordpress.com

——————————————————————————————————————————-

The basic message we try to convey through this web-site is that if the things we hope for are faith-based (in accordance with God’s will) then God will assure that those hopes are fulfilled, in his time and his way.  On the other hand, if what we hope for is not in accordance with God’s will, then it’s just wishful  thinking,  and we should not expect it to be fulfilled. However, sometimes God turns what we might think of as wishful thinking into a hope fulfilled.

Sometimes we wish for something, but we never let it become a hope because we don’t believe it is something God will get involved in. Usually, it’s something that is very important to us personally, but in the whole scheme of things, appears to be so inconsequential  or self-centered that God’s response will be “don’t bother me about that. Just get over it. I’ve got bigger real hopes to fulfill”. So we try to forget about whatever it is we wish for, because we accept that it is just wishful thinking. But every now and then it pops into our mind again. Then one day, when we have finally forgotten about it, we discover that God has arranged things so that our wishful thinking has become a hope fulfilled.   Here’s one example from my personal experience which I will always remember.

During my 24 years as a pastor there have been times that things were not going well. Times when I felt hopeless.  Times when I just couldn’t see any good news coming out of whatever I was trying to accomplish in the name of Jesus.  Most of the time, I would eventually see how God turned things around so that once again I could feel that I really was serving according to his will. But other times there was this lingering feeling of hopelessness. One of the ways I dealt with that was to stop thinking about my hopes for the future, and to stop dealing with whatever issue was causing my hopelessness in the present.  Instead, I would set my thoughts on the past. That is, I would engage in nostalgia. I would say to myself  “if only things could be like they used to be”.

I was in that situation about twelve years ago.  Whether it was true or not, I had this feeling that every time I proposed some new idea for ministry, there were people who would remind me that “We never did it that way before”.  The implication being that they  weren’t going to support this new idea now.  So I followed my usual pattern, letting myself think back to what now looked like better times. In that particular situation my mind took me back about 40 years earlier, when I was a musician in the U.S. Navy.  I began to remember a lot of good times, ignoring the reality that there were also some not so good times back then.

I started thinking about one thing from the old days that I wished could do just once more time. That one thing was to be able to play, just one more time, in a big band, like I did in my Navy days (for those who don’t know, a big band is what is today often called a stage band) . Oh, I still played my saxophone now and then, mostly in our church praise band. But to me there was nothing like playing in a big band. But I understood that as just wishful thinking. I had no hope of that ever happening. I didn’t believe God really cared about it one way or the other. After all, I had already given God a number of much bigger hopes to deal with, having to do with the church. I was convinced that there was no way I would ever play in a big band again.

Of course I couldn’t literally go back to the old days.  But I tried to get as close as I could. I thought that maybe I could use the internet to find some way to contact some of the guys in the bands I played in back then. Maybe we could get back in touch and reminisce about the good old days. So I started searching for some military sites. None of them were any help. One night I decided to give it one more try before I gave up. The next thing I knew I found a website which opened with the sounds of a band playing the Navy theme song- Anchors Away. That same song we all got tired of playing over and over again back in the day. Now it was sweet music to my ears.

I had found the web-site of something I had never heard of – The Navy Musician’s Association.  Now I was getting somewhere. I noticed a link to a membership list. I brought up this list, which included e-mail addresses. On that list were about ten people I once served with or under.  I contacted them, and they responded. Then I sent in my dues and became a member. I discovered there was an annual five day reunion. I asked what they did at the reunion. The answer was that mostly they played music. I pointed out that since my Navy days I had not been a professional musician, so I probably wouldn’t be able to participate. Then I was told this wasn’t a problem.  Everyone who came got a chance to play in one of the bands if he wanted to.

As it turned out, the next reunion was scheduled for only a few months in the future. So Joan and I decided to go. That was twelve years ago. I still remember our six hour drive to the reunion site. All the way I was worrying about how I would fit in with all these people, many of whom were still professional musicians.  I feared that I would look and sound like a little kid trying to fit in with the big boys. Finally we arrived, registered, and went into one of the rehearsal rooms to see and hear what was going on. I sat there with tears in my eyes, listening to the big band play.

The next day I got out my saxophone and was invited to take my place on the bandstand with the others.  And I can honestly say that, while there were a few places where I couldn’t keep up with the rest of them, for the most part I did pretty well. Yes, God had changed my wishful thinking into a hope fulfilled. I had played in a big band again. But it was not to be just one more time. I have continued to attend and play at the reunions. In fact, in about six weeks I’m going there again, to again experience hope fulfilled.

I still believe that in order for our hopes to be fulfilled, they need to be in accordance with God’s will. But based on my personal  experience, as well as what I have read and heard  from others, I also believe that God  sometimes chooses to pleasantly surprise us. Sometimes, when we least expect it, God changes our impossible wishful thinking into hopes fulfilled.  Without our even asking him to, he changes our bad news into good news.  Come to think of it, isn’t that what God did about 2,000 years ago? On that first Easter Sunday, didn’t God change the wishful thinking of the followers of Jesus into a hope fulfilled? Didn’t God change bad news into good news, with the resurrection of Jesus, for them and for us? I think – no, I know – the answer is – yes!  You can expect God to do the same for you.  Change wishful thinking into hopes fulfilled.   

Grace and peace, Ray Gough

——————————————————————————————————————————-

Thanks for your attention. We look forward to hearing your comments about our web-site. We also invite you to send us stories of your experiences and observations of present hopes and hope fulfilled, so we can spread them around the world via this web-site. This is one way we can all join together to help keep hope alive.

May God be with you,

Patty and Ray

When All Seems Hopeless, Keep on Hoping

Thanks for visiting this web-site. We also invite you to view our newest web-site – Ray of Hope Ministries On-Line Bible Study. click here www.rohmbible.wordpress.com

——————————————————————————————————————————-

Last week the United States of America again experienced a terrorist attack. This time in Boston, Massachusetts. We Americans were reminded again that the thousands of miles of ocean between us and most of the rest of the world cannot prevent terrorists from reaching us. As with this latest attack, they are already here. Despite all the efforts of the FBI, CIA, Homeland Security, and state and local police forces, there are still holes in our security systems, through which the terrorists can and do reach us. I have no doubt that even now, some of these evil people are planning the next attacks. So I will not be surprised when the news media presents “breaking news” about another terrorist attack. I will not be surprised if before too much time goes by, you and I will be reading and hearing more bad news along these lines. Not just in the USA, but anywhere in the world.

Neither will I be surprised to hear about another mass shooting, such as the one in Newtown, Connecticut, that is still on the minds of so many of us. And not only will I not be surprised, I am expecting tonight to hear the usual news report of another killing or two in nearby Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. And I will not be surprised to hear about another man-made or natural disaster – oil spill, “super” storm, earthquake, massive industrial explosion, etc. No, I will not be surprised about any of this bad news. And I suspect that is true of many of you who are reading this. And yes, as I hear of the latest bad news the thought will again cross my mind that we are living in a time of helplessness and hopelessness. And I suspect that you might also feel that way.

Yet, in the midst of all of this bad news, I also know that God will remind me that ultimately, there is always good news. In the midst of all this hopelessness, there is always hope. God reminds me of this in various ways. For example, while the bombing in Boston was all over the news, Joan and I went on a long awaited mini-vacation trip to see a show by Bill Gaither and his gospel group, The Gaither Vocal Band in Lancaster, PA. But it seemed we just couldn’t get away from the bad news. Over and over again, that’s all we could read or hear. Finally it was time to leave our hotel room and go to the theater.

As the show opened with a familiar song, I just couldn’t get all that bad news out of my mind. I wondered if I was really going to get anything out of this show. But God answered me right then and there. Bill Gaither announced the next song by saying they didn’t usually sing it on this tour, but he felt it would be an appropriate response to the bad news from Boston. You might know this song – I Pledge My Allegiance. The chorus goes like this: “ I Pledge my allegiance to the grand old flag and the promise of HOPE from sea to sea. Under God one nation, undivided we will stand, lift the banner of liberty!”

As they began to sing, the audience, including myself, began to stand and sing. God assured me that there was HOPE for this nation. Despite all the bad news of evil, hatred, and violence, HOPE will some day be fulfilled. HOPE for peace, love, and joy – in God’s kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. Not just in the USA, but everywhere and always.

Why do I believe that this is the truth? I believe this because as I read the Bible, much of the time I hear the writers complaining to God about what is wrong in their lives and in the world. They ask the same questions that people like me still ask. “How could you let this happen, God?”. “Why me, Lord”? “How long must I endure these troubles?” For the most part, they don’t get what I would call answers. To be honest, neither do I. They seem to lose hope. That’s the same pattern that people like me follow today. We complain about all that is wrong.

Sometimes there is so much that is wrong that we begin to lose hope for better days. But as I keep reading, I find that there is always good news. Those writers, about 2,000-3,000 years ago, expressed their faith and trust in God despite all that was wrong. They did so as they remembered how God had gotten them and others through troubled times before. They expressed their faith that God would again get them through it all. The people who wrote the Bible were not, as some people suggest, copying words dictated by God. They were writing because God inspired them to write, based on their experience with God – for their own benefit and for others. For people like you and me. So that we will also experience good news in the midst of bad news. And that we can hope for better lives and a better world, expecting that our God-inspired hopes will be fulfilled.

Every Sunday in the Christian Church, most of us pray what we have come to know as The Lord’s Prayer. Every part of the prayer has meaning and purpose. But what means the most to me are the words “…Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven…”. Just as the ancient writers of the Bible believed that their hopes for better lives and a better world would be fulfilled, I believe that God will answer that prayer. God will fulfill that hope. More than that, God will call each one of us to participate with him in the work of fulfilling that hope.

Grace and peace, Ray Gough

——————————————————————————————————————————-

Thanks for your attention. We look forward to hearing your comments about our web-site. We also invite you to send us stories of your experiences and observations of present hopes and hope fulfilled, so we can spread them around the world via this web-site. This is one way we can all join together to help keep hope alive.

May God be with you,

Patty and Ray

——————————————————————————————————————————-

Thanks for your attention. We look forward to hearing your comments about our web-site. We also invite you to send us stories of your experiences and observations of present hopes and hope fulfilled, so we can spread them around the world via this web-site. This is one way we can all join together to help keep hope alive.

May God be with you,

The Difference Between Physical and Spiritual Aging

Thanks for visiting this web-site. We also invite you to view our newest web-site - Ray of Hope Ministries On-Line Bible  Study. click here www.rohmbible.wordpress.com

——————————————————————————————————————————-

My wife Joan and I have about 12 family photo albums, along with probably a few hundred more photos to be organized and filed.  Those in the albums are filed chronologically. Some photos date back to the 1890’s. There are photos of family pets and automobiles from years long gone. We have some unmarked photos of some people we can’t identify. One in particular comes to mind. It’s a photo of a guy wearing a Nazi Swastika armband. He is seated in front of a large portrait of Hitler. It was apparently taken during or before World War II. I hate to say it, but since it was found among boxes of stuff inherited from my mother, I can only assume this man must have been a relative of some sort.

There are also a lot of photos of myself, starting with my baptism photo, when I was only a few weeks old, taken 73 years ago.  When I look through those photos and see how my physical appearance has changed in various stages of life, I find myself saying, “the person in those old photos doesn’t look like the person I see in the mirror today”.  It’s just amazing to me how people physically change over the years.

Even more amazing is how we can change and grow spiritually. How we can actually become the Christ-like people God created us to be.  Of course, there is a difference between physical and spiritual aging. On the one hand, you can to some extent take steps to keep yourself looking young (or younger than you really are),  for the most part what you look like as you grow older is not up to you. Like it or not, your physical appearance will change as time goes by.

On the other hand, you can do something to enhance your spiritual aging. That is, you can move in the direction of becoming  the Christ-like person God created you to be.  No, you won’t get to physically look like Jesus. But you can come closer and closer to thinking, speaking, and acting like him. You can come closer to being made perfect in love. Which means loving God and your fellow human beings. But you can’t do any of this without God. God will do all kinds of things to convince you that you need to let him change you so as to grow spiritually.

For example, remember how, about 2,000 years ago, a man named Saul was traveling from Jerusalem to Damascus, for the purpose of persecuting the people of the newly formed Christian church? He had what we might call, “a close encounter with God”. God blinded this man with a flash of lightning and knocked him to his knees.  Jesus then appeared to him and made it known to him that God’s plan for him was to be changed spiritually, so that instead of persecuting the church and its people, he would become one of them. More than that, he became one of the most effective and influential Christian leaders of all time. We know him as the Apostle Paul.

God could make all this happen. But God doesn’t force anyone to become Christ-like. Each person has to decide whether or not to say “yes” to God. That means accepting and using all the grace needed to  cooperate and work with God in helping others to become the Christ-like people they were created to be.

Some people who are faithful Christians, particularly if they have had some sort of “close encounter with God”, and they have said “yes” to whatever God wants to do with them, feel that takes care of everything.  That’s the way it was with me. Over the past 48 years I have had a few “close encounter with God”. Nothing like what happened to Paul, but clearly experiences of God telling me what he wanted to do with my life.  In one case it took me about ten years before I said “yes” to God.  Other times I thought that once I said “yes” to God,  that would finally satisfy God.  That’s what I thought when I finally became a full-time United Methodist pastor. I was sure that was what my whole previous life had been leading to.  But as I was serving in that capacity, God began to make it clear to me that while he was pleased with my spiritual growth over the years, he was not yet satisfied with me. Spiritually I was no longer the person I used to be,  but  I was not yet the Christ-like person God created me to be.  That is still true today. I know that as long as I live on this earth, while God might be pleased with my spiritual growth, he will never be satisfied. And if God is not satisfied, then if I really love and trust God, then neither can I be satisfied.  So I have to continue asking God to work in my life to change me and help me continue to  grow spiritually, as long as I live on this earth.  And after that, he will make whatever final spiritual changes are needed for me to become the Christ-like person I was created to be.

To become the Christ-like person God created me – and you – to be. A person who is made perfect in love.  A person who loves God and fellow human beings. A person who expresses that love by discerning God’s will for him or her, who says “yes to God”, and who uses all the grace that God provides to  in order to participate and cooperate with God. As we continue in the season of Easter, that’s the ultimate hope I have for all of us. I believe that hope will be fulfilled. In God’s time and in God’s way.

Grace and peace,  Ray

——————————————————————————————————————————-

Thanks for your attention. We look forward to hearing your comments about our web-site. We also invite you to send us stories of your experiences and observations of present hopes and hope fulfilled, so we can spread them around the world via this web-site. This is one way we can all join together to help keep hope alive.

May God be with you,

Patty and Ray

God Uses Ordinary People to Change the World

Thanks for visiting this web-site. We also invite you to view our newest web-site - Ray of Hope Ministries On-Line Bible  Study. click here www.rohmbible.wordpress.com

——————————————————————————————————————————-

One of the great things about God is that he is always using what I call “ordinary” people to participate with him in establishing his kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. That is, a world in which our hopes for a world of  peace, love, and joy are being fulfilled.  By ordinary people I mean those who are not famous, affluent, powerful, or superior to others in one way or another. People like you and me. This is not to say that God does not use “extraordinary” people to fulfill his purposes, but I believe that most of the time, down through the ages, God has used, and continues to use “ordinary” people to do extraordinary things.

Examples of this can be found in the Bible. There was Joseph, the somewhat annoying little brother of Jacob’s older sons. Who God chose to eventually become second in command in ruling Egypt. Then there was David, the young shepherd boy, ignored by his family, who God chose to become the king of Israel. On the other hand, God used people of all ages. Consider that lod man named Moses, who was about 80 years old when God chose him to lead his people out of Egypt to the Promised Land. God chose women, too. Women like Esther, a slave girl who God chose to be the queen of Persia and Media, in order to save her people from destruction by evil forces. And don’t forget the fisherman who Jesus chose to become his main man in the work of assisting in God’s transforming work ion the world.

I could go on and on, but you can read many more stories in the Bible and history in general about how God has always used ordinary people to fulfill his purposes. However, now I want to consider an example from the recent past. Fifty years ago, to be precise. It was a decade which is remembered by many of us as the era of the American civil rights movement. Most movements toward justice and righteousness begin slowly, ususally with ordinary people. Rarely does some important person get up and announce that “today I’m starting a movement”. No, it’s usually ordinary people who at the time often don’t even realize that God has chosen them to work with him in transforming the world.

One of those persons was Rosa Parks. Fifty years ago, in the southern USA, many laws existed to uphold the segregation of black and white people, and prevent their integration. One of these laws required that if a white man got on the bus and couldn’t find an empty seat, he was allowed to tell a black person to get up and give him her seat. This was an everyday occurrence, all very legal. But one day, a man got on the bus and couldn’t find an empty seat. So he told a black woman named Rosa Parks that she had to get up and let him have the seat. I’m sure that she had often endured this treatment in the past, and always complied. But on this day, she refused to give up her seat. As a result she was arrested. And that might have been the end of it. But it wasn’t. The event was publicized by the news media all over the nation and beyond. As a result, out of this act of civil disobedience against an unjust law, came further actions which led to what became known as the civil rights movement. Which in turn led to the passage of the civil rights laws by Congress. Today, 50 years later, God is still using ordinary people of various races, religions, and nationalities to continue to transform the world so that the hopes for righteousness and justice – peace, love, end joy are fulfilled, for everyone.

Another issue which God has been dealing with through ordinary people has been justice and righteousness for women. Today this is an especially severe issue in certain parts of the world, where women continue to be treated as objects who are expected to submit to the desires and needs of men, who have created laws to keep women in their place. For example, as I understand, there are parts of Pakistan controlled by the Taliban. One of the ways they  keep women in their place is by prohibiting education for girls and women.

Last October this issue made headline news, when a 15 year old Pakistani girl named Malala Yousafzai was intentionally shot in the head on  her school bus by a member of the Taliban. This was apparently an act of revenge, not only because of her defiance of their religious laws concerning the place of women in their society, but also because she had been publishing a blog since she was 11 years old, in which she expressed her feelings about the Taliban prohibiting girls from getting an education. By way of the BBC, her blog was sent around the world. So they tried to kill her.

Fortunately she was not killed. She was promptly sent out of Pakistan to Great Britain for emergency treatment, which was successful. She is still under a threat of death by the Taliban. She and her family now live in the relative safety of Great Britain, where she attends school in the 9^th grade. As she recently began attending school again she was quoted as saying “I am excited that today I have achieved my dream of going back to school. I want all girls in the world to have this basic opportunity… I want to learn about politics and about social rights, about law, about how to bring change in this world and to work for the happiness and education of all girls.”

I don’t know what religion she is part of, if any. But I have no doubt that God has been and is using her to fulfill his purposes. This is an example of how God can make something good come out of something evil. She mentions that she has achieved her dream (that is, her hope) of attending school again. But notice also that this  hope was and is not just for herself, but for all girls everywhere. Also notice that for her, attending school is not an end in itself, but a means to an end, “… to bring change in this world…”.

I’m sure that God will continue to use this ordinary girl, who will soon be a young woman, to bring change and fulfill hopes as she goes through the rest of her life.  I would not be surprised to find that some day she will be recognized by the public as an important person. But I also believe that she will always be an ordinary person, who God will use to help fulfill his extraordinary purpose of establishing his kingdom of peace, love, and joy – with righteousness and justice for all.  That to me is truly good news in the midst of so much bad news. Here’s some more good news. God can and will do the same with you, if you let him. Yes, that is one of the great things about God.

Grace and peace,  Ray

——————————————————————————————————————————-

Thanks for your attention. We look forward to hearing your comments about our web-site. We also invite you to send us stories of your experiences and observations of present hopes and hope fulfilled, so we can spread them around the world via this web-site. This is one way we can all join together to help keep hope alive.

May God be with you,

Patty and Ray

The Last Word – Hope, Not Fear

Thanks for visiting this web-site. We also invite you to view our newest web-site - Ray of Hope Ministries On-Line Bible  Study. click here www.rohmbible.wordpress.com

——————————————————————————————————————————-

Trudy Rubin writes a column, Worldview, for the newspaper The Philadelphia Inquirer. I always look forward to her writing, because she is objective about whatever her subjects. She gets much of her information by being present and in touch with both the leaders and the common people of the nations she writes about. And she is non-partisan. I have no idea what religion, if any, she belongs to. But I do believe that she is pursuing God’s will through her writing. When I read her columns I often hear about bad news in the world. But then I almost always hear some good news in the midst of bad news. I hear about hope in and for places around the world where there seems to be no hope.

Recently her column dealt with the issue of the severe problems that women are facing in the world, with emphasis on the Middle East, and especially Afghanistan. I’m not going to retell everything she wrote. I’m just giving a few examples of hope fulfilled in and through the lives of  some women she wrote about.

* Zin Mar Aung – She served 11 years of a 28 year sentence for handing out student pamphlets in support of Burmese opposition leader and Nobel prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi. Her life during those years must have looked hopeless. But today she trains women in political activism in hopes they can gain a role in  politics and in peace talks with rebel minorities. In other words, as a person whose hopes for freedom were fulfilled, she is now helping to develop and share that hope with others.

* Claudia Paz y Paz -  During a period of violence and civil war in her nation, she personally confronted those who were engaged in the murder of women (femicide). That took a great deal of courage and hope. And her hopes were fulfilled. Today she is the Attorney General of Guatemala, offering hope for women in and beyond her own nation.

* Nargis Nehan – She engaged in activism in a nation in which women are expected to do what they are told, and not speak out about the rights and treatment of women, or anything or anyone else, for that matter. She founded a non-governmental organization in her nation (Afghanistan) which works toward  peace and democracy. Since the Taliban were removed from the control of her nation, some of the positive results (hopes fulfilled) affecting women include:

1. Life span of Afghan women has greatly increased

2. Maternal mortality has dropped

3. 3 million girls have attended school (up from zero)

4.  Women can now work and go to university

Her concern, and that of many other Afghan women, as expressed to columnist Rubin, is the fear that all of this will be taken away as the USA and allied forces reduce their presence in Afghanistan. It seems to me that this is a real concern, regardless of whether the nation is controlled by the Taliban or the present Karzai regime.  She tells columnist Rubin that the women of Afghanistan “…can’t believe the international community and the United States will allow that to happen. On the one hand, they fear; on the other , they hope”.

I too, have my fears and hopes concerning Afghanistan. Every time I hear the bad news that more of our military people have been killed, I say to myself that we have to get our people out of there as quickly as possible. At the same time, when I think that our departure might well open the way to the return of the old ways concerning treatment of women, rather than for further improvement, I find myself saying that we really need to be there.  But as I read the quotation above, from Nargis Nehan, I notice that for her, the last word is not fear – the last word is hope. Neither columnist Trudy Rubin or activist Nargis Nehan know it, but God has used both of them, and others like them, to inspire me to trust that God will, in his time and his way, assure that those hopes will be fulfilled.

Grace and peace,  Ray

——————————————————————————————————————————-

Thanks for your attention. We look forward to hearing your comments about our web-site. We also invite you to send us stories of your experiences and observations of present hopes and hope fulfilled, so we can spread them around the world via this web-site. This is one way we can all join together to help keep hope alive.

May God be with you,

Patty and Ray

.

When Governments Fail, God Offers and Fulfills Hope

Thanks for visiting this web-site. We also invite you to view our newest web-site - Ray of Hope Ministries On-Line Bible  Study. click here www.rohmbible.wordpress.com

——————————————————————————————————————————-

Last week I said “It’s time to talk about greater hopes. Hopes for the condition of our world, including our own nation and others – even though most ordinary people like us will probably never hold positions of power and authority. It’s time to talk about righteousness, with liberty and justice for all – especially for those we will never know or even come in contact with personally. It’s time to talk about issues which some would say are not appropriate because they are too “political”. So today I will proceed with that intention.

Every day I look at the newspaper and listen to the TV news. thinking that I might find some really good news. If I pay close attention, I usually can find a bit of good, hopeful news. But for the most part, on most days it’s mostly bad news. Recently there has been one bad news subject that has been popping up every day, over and over again. I’m talking about the bad news that the government of the United States has reached its authorized spending cap for the year. I’m not an expert on this whole issue, but as I understand, according to an agreement reached by congress near the end of 2012, the decision to do something about this spending cap was put off for a few months, with the understanding that if a compromise agreement was not reached by February 28 of 2013, substantial cuts in government expenditures would take place. Half of this would be applied to the military and half to civilian purposes, including essential services and support for those already living at or near poverty in the nation. At the time this decision was made, it was expected that the political parties, Republicans and Democrats, in congress, along with the President, would spend the next few months working out a compromise involving both cuts in expenditures and increases in revenue, primarily from increases in taxes, in order to balance the national budget and drastically reduce the national debt.

I believe that when that plan was announced in 2012, most Americans saw this as good news. However, as the months and weeks went by, and now (only two days away from that deadline) we’re expecting some hopeless bad news. The news reporters and commentators, along with the politicians whose job it is to resolve this problem, are all saying that there is no hope that these drastic reductions in expenditures, will be avoided. They are saying that there is no hope for the compromise agreement, which the politicians in Washington said they would provide.

Now why is it that they can’t come to an agreement? It seems to me that this is just another example of what has been happening over about the last two years. What I see is  that each of the two major political parties has a proposal for fixing the national debt problem, and each believes that it’s proposal is the best. As it happens, those in the Democrartic party basically call for increases in revenues (taxes), while those in the Republican party call for cutting expenses. Each has been essentially saying that if you adopt our plan, all will be well. But if you adopt the opposing plan there wll be a disaster. So there is a stalemate. There is little if any willingness to compromise.

I believe that behind the present issue I have just mentioned, is the greater issue that  too many of elected officials have become more and more  concerned with getting themselves and others of their political party elected  or reelected. Everything they say or do seems to be calculated to show the opposition as evil, and to show that they will not compromise with evil. They refuse to cooperate and compromise. They condemn each other. They blame each other. They even stoop to lying about each other. Anything to have everything their way and only their way. The result of this self-centered and often childish behavior is that  they are demonstrating their own capitulation to evil.

It seems that more and more, they are placing loyalty to their political party above loyalty to the nation. They have forgotten, or maybe never understood, that their purpose is to serve all the people of the whole nation. To provide for the common good and general welfare of all the people of all the nation. Their focus seems to be on providing for their own good and their own welfare. It is interesting to note that while they will allow a situation which will be harmful to those who are defending our nation and those who are already living at or near poverty, they will continue to receive the relatively lucrative salaries they have voted to pay themselves.

I could go on and on with what’s wrong with our government as it now operates. But I’m not an expert on politics, government, or finances. What I have said so far is just what I observe. But there is something which I can say which I believe to be absolute truth. In my post last week I also said “I was reminded that in his time on earth Jesus spoke about a lot of  things (that today might be considered political). In fact, it was to a great extent that because he spoke about and acted on those kinds of issues that he was denied, betrayed, tortured and executed.”

The kind of things Jesus talked about, especially what he talked about in the “sermon on the mount” (Matthew chapters 5-7), are in fact today considered to be political. Also, through the word of God as found in the Bible, we can read a great deal about things that are today considered to be political. The message I get from all that is that ideally, politics should be about  coming to decisions on and acting in such a way that they provide for the well-being of all people. Yes, for the common good and general wefare of all people. How do we know that God is concerned about all people? We know because God, in the words of Jesus as found in the Bible,  said that the two greatest commandments were to love God and love our neighbor. When asked “Who is my neighbor?” he answered with the parable of the good Samaritan, which identifies neighbor as anyone in need who you can serve and you are in a position to serve, especially persons who are different from you.

So, is it realistic to have hope that we will ever see and hear  good news in the midst of the bad news that is  being made in Washington? What can  ordinary people like us do to change things? I believe that behind all that is wrong in Washington, is that most of those we have elected are not seeking or listening to God’s direction as to the issues that come before them.   I believe that above all else, in the future, we need to elect people who we believe, based on everything we can know about them,  are most likely to seek and do the will of God as to how they go about serving. Unless we know the candidate personally, we can never be sure that our observation about that person is accurate. This means that  we ourselves have to seek God’s guidance as we try to discern what is true about political candidates. To the extent that we do that, we can help further positive change in our government. This will not happen as the result of one or two elections. Ultimately, we cannot make this change happen. But God can and will, in God’s time and God’s way. We need to be praying and having faith that God will work changes in the lives of actual and potential politicians, as he does in all kinds of people including you and me.

Finally, while things will not change overnight, and maybe not even in our lifetime, history tells us that even in the face of disastrous situations resulting from political divisiveness God has always provided us with the grace (everything we need) to get through it all. God has provided good news in the midst of bad  news and hope when things looked hopeless. Consider these examples:

* Our establishment as an independent nation – We not only had to win a war, but deal with the divisive politics of that time

* The holding together as one nation under God, despite the divisive politics resulting  Civil War

* The unity of most Americans, resulting in our world leadership in defeating the evil forces let loose in the world during and after World War II.

* The adoption of laws and positive changing of minds which provided for establishment of the civil rights and welfare of women, children, minority persons, children, and those living in poverty

I believe that God has always been at work for the well-being of our nation, and through our nation, the well-being of other nations, even before we were established as a nation. I believe God is still at work here, despite the failures of our government in recent years. In terms of our love for other people, we still have a long way to go before we are fully on the same page as Jesus, but we are getting there. That’s the good news in the midst of the bad news.  That’s the hope which God can and will fulfill, in his time and in his way.

Grace and peace,  Ray

——————————————————————————————————————————-

Thanks for your attention. We look forward to hearing your comments about our web-site. We also invite you to send us stories of your experiences and observations of present hopes and hope fulfilled, so we can spread them around the world via this web-site. This is one way we can all join together to help keep hope alive.

May God be with you,

Patty and Ray

.

Lent – A Time to Confess, Repent, Pray, and Hope

Thanks for visiting this web-site. We also invite you to view our newest web-site - Ray of Hope Ministries On-Line Bible  Study. click here www.rohmbible.wordpress.com

——————————————————————————————————————————-

Last week the Christian church began the season of Lent, which will continue until Easter Sunday.  The purpose of Lent might be explained in different ways by various branches of the Christian faith. However, I believe most would agree that it has something to do with taking an extended period (about six weeks) to confess and repent of our sins of the past year. By “sins” I mean the various ways we have failed to discern and/or live according to God’s will. By “repent” I mean to commit to turning around in such a way that I will be more effective in discerning and living according to God’s will. Lent is also a time to thank God for having loved us and for having already forgiven us for whatever our sins might have been or will be. Finally, Lent is a time to pray and hope for God to give us the grace (ability, power, and whatever else we need) to move into the future living much more closely according to God’s will for us. Believing in advance that God will fulfill these hopes.  To put it another way, I believe that Lent is a time to listen to God with the hope of moving ever closer to becoming the Christ-like people he created every human being to be. I  believe we should be  confessing, repenting, and discerning God’s will to some extent every day of our lives. But since we don’t do that, we need this special time called Lent.

As I have gone through this process, especially over about the past ten years or so, I have heard God speak to me with a variety of directions.  Sometimes God has said “just keep doing what you are doing”. At the other extreme God has sometimes told me to make some really big changes. For example, the timing of my retirement, the decision to serve as a part-time pastor when I did retire. And the decision to begin this internet ministry, Ray of Hope Ministries, along with my friend and partner in ministry, Patty Perez. Our first venture being this blog which you are now reading, which Patty entitled Today’s Enlightenment.

Between those two extremes of God’s will, there is a third way God speaks to us. Often he will say, “keep on doing what you are doing, but just make some adjustments.” That’s the message I received this morning as I was preparing to write this blog post. I was reminded that one of my unwritten “rules” for writing is that I don’t want anyone who might read our blog  to be offended by what is written, by myself, Patty, or a guest writer.

Toward that end, as I have written on the theme of hope, I have done so mostly by telling how God has been at work in fulfilling the hopes of myself and others, especially those who are close to me. However,  this morning the message that God was giving me was that what I have been writing has been good and should continue. But now it’s time to look beyond myself and those who are close to me. It’s time to talk about greater hopes. Hopes for the condition of our world, including our own nation and others – even though we will probably never hold positions of power and authority. It’s time to talk about righteousness, with liberty and justice for all – especially for those we will never know or even come in contact with personally. It’s time to talk about issues which some would say are not appropriate because they are too “political”. I was reminded that in his time on earth Jesus spoke about a lot of those kinds of things. In fact, it was to a great extent because he spoke about and acted on those kinds of issues that he was denied, betrayed, tortured and executed.

This morning God was pointing out to me that it was time to talk with hopeful words about those things that Jesus talked about. Because my purpose in life is to always be moving toward becoming the Christ-like person that God created me to be, I cannot worry about offending someone who doesn’t like the issue God inspires me to write about. I heard God saying, “that was true when you was a pastor, especially regarding what you preached about. Yes, you received nasty letters from and had face to face confrontations with some church members who did not want to hear you or anyone else talking about subjects which Jesus talked about. Yes, there were those who reported you to the Ditrict Superintendent  for preaching about issues that they said didn’t belong in church.” So God is saying to me ”now you don’t have to worry about these things and those  people. That’s why I gave you this writing ministry, on the internet. No one can stop you from writing whatever I inspire you to write.”  Now I’m not saying that I literally heard those words I have just written in quotes. But that’s what I understood God was telling me what I needed to do. Or as I have learned to say,  “I understand that’s what God wants to do with me”. And so I have this hope that God will give me all the grace I need to do my part, as he continues to move us all toward the fulfillment of the hope and promise of the kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven. Patty and I invite you to join us in this endeavor, by offering your comments concerning our blogs, as well as your stories, and other examples of hopes fulfilled.

Grace and peace,  Ray

——————————————————————————————————————————-

Thanks for your attention. We look forward to hearing your comments about our web-site. We also invite you to send us stories of your experiences and observations of present hopes and hope fulfilled, so we can spread them around the world via this web-site. This is one way we can all join together to help keep hope alive.

May God be with you,

Patty and Ray