Encounters with Hope #16
President’s Day
Today is President’s Day. Not that it’s a holiday I normally get excited about, but it is worth knowing what some of the leaders of our nation have done and said. Especially the great ones. Several presidents have led our country through some really hard times. But I don’t know anyone who has led America through a harder time than Abraham Lincoln did. We were a country divided and engaging in a terrible Civil War.
Lincoln was asked about whether he felt God was on his side, and he responded, “Sir, my concern is not whether God is on our side. My greatest concern is to be on God’s side, for God is always right.” Through difficult decisions and hard times, Lincoln trusted in God’s wisdom and love to guide him through.
In my life, I have found the greatest victories when I let God lead me because His motive is love. True love does not force itself on others, so He does not make us follow Him. But when we choose to follow Jesus, we know that He is always right because He always leads us with love. Lincoln was onto something, because when we are on God’s side we have this promise, “If God be for us, who can stand against us?” These are “Encounters with Hope.”
Encounters with Hope #15
The Power of a Servant
A British ambassador traveled to one of their colonies to meet with the chiefs of 5 important tribes. The chiefs had come together to demand their independence from colonial control. The ambassador took 5 chairs and placed them in the room where they would all meet together. But he instructed someone to cut the legs of the chairs, so that each one was a different height.
As the chiefs entered the room they looked at the chairs, and began arguing about who was going to sit in the tallest chair. Each chief was used to sitting in the most important chair and felt he deserved to sit in the tallest one. The argument grew more heated until finally, several of the chiefs stormed out in anger. The ambassador knew he had accomplished his mission.
A bunch of followers of Jesus were arguing over sitting in a place of high position, and he told them: “You’ve observed how godless rulers throw their weight around, how quickly a little power goes to their heads. It’s not going to be that way with you. Whoever wants to be great must become a servant.” But He didn’t just teach them. The One Who sat on the biggest throne in the universe, left that chair to serve you and me. These are “Encounters with Hope.”
Encounters with Hope #14
A Surgery of Love
Kevin Jordan was a talented young baseball player at Wake Forest University. In fact, he was talented enough to draw the interest of the New York Yankees. But in 2010, Jordan was told that he had a disease that would lead to kidney failure and even death. He spent ten hours every day going through dialysis to help keep him alive. He was in need of an immediate transplant.
But his family’s kidneys did not match. His baseball coach’s kidneys did match. The coach had taught his players about sacrificing for one another, and now he was determined to show it. Jordan’s coach gave him his kidney. Jordan is still recovering, and he plans a comeback to baseball. He is a courageous young man. But his coach is the kind of leader I want to follow.
There was another leader who taught about the power of sacrifice to help other people. “We know what love is because Jesus gave his life for us. That’s why we must give our lives for each other.” Jesus sacrificed His life for us so that our failures could be forgiven and to heal our pain. Now that’s a leader I’ll follow too. These are “Encounters with Hope.”
