Hope

Hope: A vision for a better tomorrow that causes you to live differently today.

I spent this past weekend staying with some friends at UNC-W. We spent the weekend getting shown around Wilmington, the campus, and just hanging out. On Sunday we attended Cape Fear Christian Church. I liked the service, and the message was about hope, which the first week of advent focuses on. Advent is an older tradition that the Church used to keep. Some churches still keep Advent today, others are coming back to that root. Growing up Original Free Will Baptist, we never kept Advent. I believe only the Catholics and possibly the Episcopals do so today.

Advent means the arrival of something that has been much anticipated. Roughly a month leading up to Christmas, The Church sets aside time to remember the significance of the first coming of Christ, and to refocus on his second coming.

Hope is essential to the Christian life. Hope drives us to continue to live and pursue God, and not to let our stories end once we accept Jesus as the Messiah.

What are you hopeful for? Are you taking steps now to live in preparation?