I have the habit of tucking away word phrases that catch my attention because they uniquely convey truth. One such phrase was sitting alone in a draft folder. Hope is the ability to hear the music of the future; faith is the courage to dance to it today. Apart from hope, we stagnate, gripped by our circumstances, futile thinking reaching for something, anything, to medicate the pain. But, if we can hear a distant echo of possible potential, that somehow, some way, things could be different, then we have the freedom of choice. Will I reach for the different? Walk into what may still be dark, but each step brings the echo closer? It may not seem like I am “dancing,” not yet, but even with dance, dancing is not always the bold steps, but sometimes it is the soft and quiet ones. Faith is simply choosing – courageously choosing -- making a choice based on the options I am faced with, hearing the distant music, and being compelled to dance even the small and quiet steps, reaching with my will, my heart, and all the practicality I have knowledge of, reaching in the direction of the music that I might experience it in the fullness of its expression.
The truth was powerful, but who would say or pen such words? Doing an online search, the words repeated themselves, but it took some persistence to credit the words to Peter Kuzmic. Esteemed by many, the Reverend Dr. Peter Kuzmic holds the credentials of former pastor, evangelist, educator, theologian, speaker, writer, administrator – to very generically represent some of his accomplishments. But his words are not only powerful, they also represent knowledge of a pulsing reality of the difficult, the tragic, even the incomprehensible. Dr. Kuzmic may be a teacher at his core, but he has also heard and seen, engaged in and responded to, the tragedies of war in Eastern Europe, offering as he has said, bread for their stomachs (and much more) in order that their ears may hear the words about the bread of life.
Learning about Dr. Kuzmic, I know his words embrace the God of Hope, because as another well known theologian, Charles Spurgeon, said, “Without Christ, there is no hope.” What causes me to hold tenaciously to the God of Hope who unfolded a miracle of grace in my own life, and continues to give His grace, is the fact that no matter where we look, what we study, what we listen to, what we deem the acceptable norms politically, culturally, or psychologically – nothing, absolutely nothing, compares to the God of Hope. In upholding the biblical accuracy of who this God is and what He offers, there are no other options. It is the message for those who are grief stricken, those broken in spirit or relationships, those whose lives are shredded by circumstances they can’t control, those who have lost and lost again, or simply those who tire of the monotony of their days. Hope is the ability to hear the music of the future; faith is the courage to dance to it today. The music comes from the heart of God. Faith places my hand in His hand, and chooses to dance today knowing I can dance every dance with Him and together we will dance into the perfections of eternity.
(Related Bible reading: Psalm 42:1-11)
The truth was powerful, but who would say or pen such words? Doing an online search, the words repeated themselves, but it took some persistence to credit the words to Peter Kuzmic. Esteemed by many, the Reverend Dr. Peter Kuzmic holds the credentials of former pastor, evangelist, educator, theologian, speaker, writer, administrator – to very generically represent some of his accomplishments. But his words are not only powerful, they also represent knowledge of a pulsing reality of the difficult, the tragic, even the incomprehensible. Dr. Kuzmic may be a teacher at his core, but he has also heard and seen, engaged in and responded to, the tragedies of war in Eastern Europe, offering as he has said, bread for their stomachs (and much more) in order that their ears may hear the words about the bread of life.
Learning about Dr. Kuzmic, I know his words embrace the God of Hope, because as another well known theologian, Charles Spurgeon, said, “Without Christ, there is no hope.” What causes me to hold tenaciously to the God of Hope who unfolded a miracle of grace in my own life, and continues to give His grace, is the fact that no matter where we look, what we study, what we listen to, what we deem the acceptable norms politically, culturally, or psychologically – nothing, absolutely nothing, compares to the God of Hope. In upholding the biblical accuracy of who this God is and what He offers, there are no other options. It is the message for those who are grief stricken, those broken in spirit or relationships, those whose lives are shredded by circumstances they can’t control, those who have lost and lost again, or simply those who tire of the monotony of their days. Hope is the ability to hear the music of the future; faith is the courage to dance to it today. The music comes from the heart of God. Faith places my hand in His hand, and chooses to dance today knowing I can dance every dance with Him and together we will dance into the perfections of eternity.
(Related Bible reading: Psalm 42:1-11)
