A Beach Experience of Living Hope
Yesterday was Wednesday in Saipan, which means Lu Min was here. She is the Buchers' housekeeper who comes once a week to help tidy things up. Lu Min doesn't like people "under her feet" so we typically take our day off on Wednesday. At least, that has been the pattern for the past three Wednesdays. Yesterday's adventure was a hike through the jungle to see The Old Man by the Sea.
See him? It's the rock formation in the center of the photo. Getting here we parked on a road and then headed into the jungle on foot. A shy mile later we emerged onto this hidden beach guarded by the old man's head. (That clump of hair in the center front is a decomposed palm tree stump. Yes, I wondered about it too.) Anyhow, the jungle path was a narrow footpath with sharp descents that required holding onto ropes people had left tied to trees. Slipping, sliding, repelling, we made it through the jungle overgrowth to a mangrove forest that mediated between the jungle and sandy desert leading down to the beach. It was WAY cool to walk through the tangle of mangrove roots looping overhead for a few hundred feet.
That's Josiah, the Buchers' son-in-law, who lives here with his wife, the Buchers' daughter, as they wait for their own house to open up. This is their second time moving to Saipan and he is eager to revisit places on the island he loves, and has been taking me along to experience these island treats for myself.
Below is a view of the mangrove root system overhead. The jungle is behind him around the bend and uphill, the beach desert in front quite a ways yet. On the way back, we had to climb hand over hand with the tree-tied ropes as our feet gripped the slippery pathway to get back up out of the ravine.
Something about this adventure reminds me of the church. Here in Saipan we attend the Living Hope Church of the Nazarene.
Living hope is a concept right out of the book of First Peter where it says in chapter one:
Suffering and trials are a part of the life we are living on earth. This is because sin has fractured the world, the consequence of which has led to a certain amount of difficulty for humanity. Some difficulty is a direct result of our own poor choices. Other difficulty is a result of the actions of others. And some difficulty is a result of sin's effect on nature; sin fractured the natural world. For all of these difficulties, the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is the answer. Yet we do not yet see the full effect of his healing for humankind and nature---yet. The healing, however, has begun, and is spreading.
One person here, another there... little by little humanity is coming into the renewed life Jesus Christ gave us as a living hope when he rose from the dead. Creation too is affected by this living hope. Paul tells us in Romans 8:19 that "creation is waiting in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed." It's as if creation is groaning as in the pains of childbirth" (Romans 8:22). Whose birth? By God's great mercy God has given us a new birth into a living hope... that's what the above verses say, right? It appears that Jesus-followers have some sort of an effect on nature itself. What would happen if every person in the world became a Jesus-follower in one generation? Would nature itself be born again? A mind-boggling thought for which I do not at the moment have an answer.
A new birth. A living hope. It's like what I found when I finally arrived at the ocean, looked out past the Old Man and saw the waters, so alive and clear, so active and vibrant as the waves crashed against the rocks and washed ashore.
On shore, however, the waves had washed up a ridge of garbage alarming to see in this pristine place.
The garbage did not originate here. The ocean brought it. It is reminds me of the suffering and trials we encounter during the 80 years of our lifespan. Jesus did not promise to make every problem disappear when we gave our lives to become his disciples, but he did promise us a new birth into a living hope.
Christine Hung reminds us in an article she wrote for The Foundry Publishing, that Jesus always met people where they were in life. "The hope we have in the Lord is that we are continually being restored and reconciled to the perfect image of Christ. This is not just a personal hope but also a collective hope. God is working toward reconciling all creation. This restoration of hope should be the beacon of light that directs us out of the darkness of the broken world. There is healing in our hearts and in our relationships with God and with others" (read full article here).
I read her article when I got home from the beach and thought the rhythm of restoration echoes the rhythm of the ocean waves. Wash over my spirit, Spirit of God.
Then again, garbage is also a fact of life. But don't despair. If you have given your life to become a Jesus-follower, the various trials you encounter prove the genuineness of your faith. In a backward sort of way, the garbage on the beach proves the ocean is alive with movement. Your various trials prove Jesus is alive as you find shelter in him during your time of storm. He strengthens you when you are weak. He covers you like an ocean, his waves rocking you until you feel you can go on a bit further. You are receiving the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your soul.
It's helpful to me to focus on the ocean of God's love, the promise contained in our living hope instead of taking too narrow a focus on garbage that washes over our souls emotionally, spiritually and/or physically at times. It will not last forever. That comforts me. God has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who are being protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time" (1 Peter 1:4 NRSV). There's an ocean of living hope in that truth! Walking a jungle path, through a mangrove forest, across a desert beach before reaching the pristine shores of the Old Man by the Sea, I felt the sensation of what it means to be a follower of Jesus in the world today. There is beauty. But there is also pain. I am choosing today to focus on the waves instead of the garbage---Jesus, my living hope. You too?
Have a great day,
Amy
See him? It's the rock formation in the center of the photo. Getting here we parked on a road and then headed into the jungle on foot. A shy mile later we emerged onto this hidden beach guarded by the old man's head. (That clump of hair in the center front is a decomposed palm tree stump. Yes, I wondered about it too.) Anyhow, the jungle path was a narrow footpath with sharp descents that required holding onto ropes people had left tied to trees. Slipping, sliding, repelling, we made it through the jungle overgrowth to a mangrove forest that mediated between the jungle and sandy desert leading down to the beach. It was WAY cool to walk through the tangle of mangrove roots looping overhead for a few hundred feet.
That's Josiah, the Buchers' son-in-law, who lives here with his wife, the Buchers' daughter, as they wait for their own house to open up. This is their second time moving to Saipan and he is eager to revisit places on the island he loves, and has been taking me along to experience these island treats for myself.
Below is a view of the mangrove root system overhead. The jungle is behind him around the bend and uphill, the beach desert in front quite a ways yet. On the way back, we had to climb hand over hand with the tree-tied ropes as our feet gripped the slippery pathway to get back up out of the ravine.
Something about this adventure reminds me of the church. Here in Saipan we attend the Living Hope Church of the Nazarene.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead...in this you rejoice, even if now for a little while you have had to suffer various trials...
Suffering and trials are a part of the life we are living on earth. This is because sin has fractured the world, the consequence of which has led to a certain amount of difficulty for humanity. Some difficulty is a direct result of our own poor choices. Other difficulty is a result of the actions of others. And some difficulty is a result of sin's effect on nature; sin fractured the natural world. For all of these difficulties, the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is the answer. Yet we do not yet see the full effect of his healing for humankind and nature---yet. The healing, however, has begun, and is spreading.
One person here, another there... little by little humanity is coming into the renewed life Jesus Christ gave us as a living hope when he rose from the dead. Creation too is affected by this living hope. Paul tells us in Romans 8:19 that "creation is waiting in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed." It's as if creation is groaning as in the pains of childbirth" (Romans 8:22). Whose birth? By God's great mercy God has given us a new birth into a living hope... that's what the above verses say, right? It appears that Jesus-followers have some sort of an effect on nature itself. What would happen if every person in the world became a Jesus-follower in one generation? Would nature itself be born again? A mind-boggling thought for which I do not at the moment have an answer.
A new birth. A living hope. It's like what I found when I finally arrived at the ocean, looked out past the Old Man and saw the waters, so alive and clear, so active and vibrant as the waves crashed against the rocks and washed ashore.
On shore, however, the waves had washed up a ridge of garbage alarming to see in this pristine place.
The garbage did not originate here. The ocean brought it. It is reminds me of the suffering and trials we encounter during the 80 years of our lifespan. Jesus did not promise to make every problem disappear when we gave our lives to become his disciples, but he did promise us a new birth into a living hope.
Christine Hung reminds us in an article she wrote for The Foundry Publishing, that Jesus always met people where they were in life. "The hope we have in the Lord is that we are continually being restored and reconciled to the perfect image of Christ. This is not just a personal hope but also a collective hope. God is working toward reconciling all creation. This restoration of hope should be the beacon of light that directs us out of the darkness of the broken world. There is healing in our hearts and in our relationships with God and with others" (read full article here).
I read her article when I got home from the beach and thought the rhythm of restoration echoes the rhythm of the ocean waves. Wash over my spirit, Spirit of God.
Then again, garbage is also a fact of life. But don't despair. If you have given your life to become a Jesus-follower, the various trials you encounter prove the genuineness of your faith. In a backward sort of way, the garbage on the beach proves the ocean is alive with movement. Your various trials prove Jesus is alive as you find shelter in him during your time of storm. He strengthens you when you are weak. He covers you like an ocean, his waves rocking you until you feel you can go on a bit further. You are receiving the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your soul.
It's helpful to me to focus on the ocean of God's love, the promise contained in our living hope instead of taking too narrow a focus on garbage that washes over our souls emotionally, spiritually and/or physically at times. It will not last forever. That comforts me. God has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who are being protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time" (1 Peter 1:4 NRSV). There's an ocean of living hope in that truth! Walking a jungle path, through a mangrove forest, across a desert beach before reaching the pristine shores of the Old Man by the Sea, I felt the sensation of what it means to be a follower of Jesus in the world today. There is beauty. But there is also pain. I am choosing today to focus on the waves instead of the garbage---Jesus, my living hope. You too?
Have a great day,
Amy
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