I Hope

The other day my co-worker told me that his nephew was found dead in an alleyway. When the autopsy came in, it said that he died of a heroin overdose. What really troubled me was when I heard of his age. He wasn’t a middle aged man or even a man in his twenties. No, his nephew was 18 years young. Yes, 18 years young.  Barely considered an adult with his whole life ahead of him and it was taken away within 30 seconds.  Thousands of kids his age die every day in America because of things like heroin overdoses, starvation, drunk driving, and the list could go on.

Tragedy doesn’t stop there, there are even more young women being sold into sex slavery even in the United States. Slavery, in a country that is built on the idea of freedom. In an article posted by ABC News, in 2006, the FBI estimates over 100,000 are trafficked in America. "They range in age from 9 to 19 with the average age being 11."  Many of these victims are average teens that come from good homes in nice neighborhoods and are just lured in by clever kidnappers. 

Surely, these tragedies are not just confined to the boarders of America. I look at the whole world and there are tragedies that are happening all over. In the African country of Somalia there is a civil war raging on since the early 90's. Just recently a famine has struck Somalia and resources such as simple drinking water and basic food are running dry. The UN has said this is the worst draught in a century; millions of Somalians are at risk of starvation. The rebel generals that are running things over there are blocking all support from all United Nation with attempts to feed thousands of starving and innocent Somalians. Over 30,000 Somali children under the age of 5, have died from starvation. Many more are on the verge of death. 

At this very moment, millions of kids are starving and rolling through dumpsters wondering when they will find their next meal. This is tragic. At the same moment, millions of people are being sold into sex slavery against their will. There are teens, dying of drug overdoses.  Innocent civilians die from another road side bomb made by terrorist, tragic."Smart bombs" stupidly find their way to homes of civilians. Another person of color is being called a racist slur. It is safe to say that all these things are indeed Tragic.

Tragedy, our world is filled with it, every day, every moment there is something “tragic” happening in every corner of the globe. But yet, if these things are facts that we hear on the news, how can we, in this post modern world, call these things tragic? Tragedy loses its meaning at the dinner table when the nightly news comes on.  It loses its meaning in the news paper headline that is left on the seat of the bus. In post modern America, we see these stories, these “tragedies” and we say, “oh how terrible” and we continue about our day. Going to work, the gym, the grocery store, to school, wherever our day leads us. These tragedies are no longer tragic, they become “how things are.” Just another story on the six o’clock news. I look at the news app on my smart phone everyday and I see articles about tragic things such as shootings in Norway, or an earthquake that hits Japan, but in the end, it just becomes another story on my smart phone app. Tragedy becomes just another word. Tragic indeed.

So let’s look at another word, hope. How do we define hope in our post-modern world? Webster’s Dictionary states hope as a noun as well as a verb. As a verb, hope’s definition is this: “to feel that something desired may happen.” When you say that something may happen, that means what is desired has the possibility of not coming into reality. In Christian Scripture, Hope takes on a different meaning. According to Hebrew and Greek translations in accordance to usage in Scripture, hope is actually an indication of certainty. Its literal definition in Christian Scripture is “a strong and confident expectation.” There is no "may happen," it instead turns to will happen. In Christianity, there are no doubts for salvation for a failing world; there are no doubts of redemption for a fallen man, and there are no doubts of the power of The Eternal Maker. There are no doubts of a Second Coming. It is certain that these things will happen eventually.

 “For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one also hope for what he sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.” Romans 8: 24-25 NIV

As a Christian, to have hope is to believe in a world that does not yet exist, a world we cannot see. Hope, oddly enough, is having disbelief.  It is saying “I cannot believe that it is right to see children eating out of garbage. I cannot believe that this is normal.” Hope is ultimately a movement towards a better place, an acknowledgement towards the Kingdom of the Heavens. Without this hope, tragedies no longer become tragedies, they are what are expected out of life; they become eventualities, things that "just happen." But with hope, you no longer accept that "this is the way things are" as reality. I for one, refuse to believe that this is the way the world is supposed to spin. I believe in a world turned upside down, caved in, and on its knees. When you have hope, you are calling out the injustices in this life as they are, tragic. When we decide to have hope, we let a bit of the Infinite into the world we live in. 

Martin Luther King had hope. Rosa Parks had hope. Joan of Ark had hope. The Kennedy's had hope. Jesus Christ had hope. Each one of these people, and so many more, saw a world that was in a state of true tragedy.  Each one of these people saw the world as it was and believed that it wasn’t how it should be.  They had hope for a world that was better than what they see in front of them. From racial oppression to oppression by sin, these people did not stray away from the tragedies but met them head on.

In Christianity, when Jesus Christ died, He died to pay the punishment for sin. He saw the effects of sin as well as the implications they have for the fate of humanity. However, He saw a world that, at the moment, did not yet exist. With that hope for a new world, He laid down His life to make that world a reality. He created a world of Redemption and Salvation. This is the world that we live in today, where there is such thing as another chance. In this world sick are healed. In this world the sinners become saints. Eternity becomes reality and not just a rumor.

"I am leaving you with a gift- peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don't be troubled or afraid." John 14:27 NIV

So now we are stuck choosing between these two worlds, a world of despair where tragedy is just another word. A world where children starve, women are sold, 18 year olds with their whole life ahead of them die from drug overdoses, and all along this is “just how things are.” 


Or do we choose the world that The Infinite Creator set for us all? A world of hope, love, redemption and salvation; where tragedies are tragic, where wrongs are made right. “How things are” is not an acceptable answer by any means. This is where love wins in the end. Do you refuse to take the world as it is? Which world do you choose?  Do you choose to say, “I Hope?”