Hope. You read this?

So...as life rolls on we have found ourselves in the process of buying a house.

If all goes well, the next blog I write may well be written in our new (old) home. It's an interesting feeling signing papers that commit you to buying something that will likely take you until you're a senior citizen to pay for. It's a big deal.

If this all goes through, Kendra and I are laying down roots here that are alot deeper than we anticipated ever wanting to lay down in Evansville, IN. It all feels kinda crazy, but we believe it is what's best and right for Dean.

The whole process of making this decision has been another revelation of God's grace to us, and if this house deal falls through, we know it wasn't the right time or house for us. Although it is really hard to imagine that, because this is the house we've dreamed of one day living in and never thought possible to own. Throughout this process God keeps reminding us that our hope must be in Him and Him alone. This is a truth we learned together early in our marriage: Misplaced hope will often lead to anxiety, which can lead to a whole lot of other bad situations relationally, physically, mentally, and spiritually. Christ alone can be our hope. If we place our hope in a job, house, friendship, or any person other than Christ, we are setting ourselves up for trouble.

The word hope in the New Testament is actually translated as "a confident expectancy", which varies greatly from most of it's modern day uses like, "I hope to see you this weekend", or "I sure hope you know what you're doing". The way hope is used nowadays could usually be translated as, "maybe so, maybe not". This is a far cry from the hope mentioned in reference to Christ. When we place our hope, desire, and expectations in anything other Christ, we leave ourselves open to being let down and many people then feel like God let them down. Instead of letting them down, God is there guarding and ordering their path. When we allow ourselves to get so emotionally invested in an idea or desire that we get anxious, hurt, angry, or upset when it doesn’t happen like we’d have liked, we have misplaced our hope.

Hope belongs only in Christ. It’s easy to get excited about some new possibility and mistakenly place our hope elsewhere, but it is wiser to guard your heart when exciting possibilities come your way by always keeping your joy and peace in Christ and Him alone. Obviously I don’t mean to not be excited about things, however, be excited in Christ. Let not the things be the point. Let Christ be the point and everything else is a bonus. I will leave you with this…which is the section of Bible people that know me most associate with me.

Philippians 4:6-8

⁶ Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. ⁷ And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

⁸ Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

In the words of hippies, Christians, and Jews alike…Peace