Sometimes in the middle of a crisis, it is hard to focus on hope. Hope doesn’t always change a current challenge, but it helps us push on and see beyond ourselves and our abilities. Easter is the ultimate message of hope. It is needed as we see so many people facing illness, and so many families that are stressed about their livelihoods. Clearly, we are reminded that we live in a broken world, and these are times that change us, and our families, for generations. How can we make it through these days?
Growing up in my family, I was told of similar days. Christmas Day 1918, my great-grandfather died in the Spanish influenza epidemic at the age of 40, leaving my grandfather an 12-year-old orphan. That event forever changed his life, and our family for generations. There seemed to be no reason for the grief and poverty it caused. But later, hearing my grandfather look back to those days, he would see how God used that event, and many others in the hard years that followed, to lead him to Christ.
When ultimately my grandfather accepted Jesus Christ as Lord, it changed his life, and the generations that followed him as well. He would testify of God’s goodness, it restored his hope, and his faith grew. His testimony of God’s love through hardship inspired so many others, and ultimately in the years that followed, even me.
While we face these days with distance, caution, and following all the necessary practical safety guidance, we know ultimately those things are not where we place our hope. Our hope is found through a resurrected Savior, Jesus Christ, in whom we not only find forgiveness, but eternal life. That is our security in a very unsecure world. May you find His hope and peace this Easter, as we celebrate His victory over sin, brokenness, and death. He is risen indeed!
Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. –
Romans 15:13
Praying for you,
John P. Klingstedt
Executive Director/Interim Head of School
