HOPE CONNECT

This school year has been especially difficult for many of us. I was confessing to some coworkers this week that my “grace buffer” is at an all-time low. What I mean is that I am much quicker to lash out at others when in the past I was able to more easily apply grace or mercy. When I'm stressed, I tend to lose focus on the big picture (God's plan) and I just focus on my job (my to-do list).

Recently I added a phrase at the bottom of my emails to help remind me that "we are in this together." I added that when COVID hit. It’s a worldwide problem but it’s not like a war with people fighting against other people. We are all trying to overcome COVID together. By the way, this phrase came from a Principal from a small school in my home town where the community worked together to make this small poor school thrive. That’s what I want too at HOPE. So I think the phrase “we are in this together” can focus our motivation to help us survive or even thrive in this community.

Being "in this together" could be based on our FEELINGS. We have lots of common feelings that we share. Just think of your five favorite and least favorite things about living in Cambodia and many of the things you identify are probably based on your feelings. Feelings tend to be based on our perspectives or our attitude and these feelings can change rapidly.

Being "in this together" could be based on our DOING. This suits me better as I tend to focus on my job - I can put my head down and do my work. I do want to be part of a team that is working together for a common goal. I want to achieve HOPE’s Mission & Vision to help spread the gospel and see God’s love and justice prevail in Cambodia. But this school year has been particularly hard for me and COVID-19 has contributed to worse feelings about living in Cambodia and it has also zapped much of my doing energy. These days I feel weak.

Finally, being "in this together" could be based on our BEING. This starts with who we are in Christ. Don't lose sight of this. Remind yourself often - I am a son or daughter of Christ. Our being deals with the kind of person we are in Christ. Our identity is not based on our feelings or even our doing. That’s the good news. That’s the picture of the victory we have at the end of this life. Not because of what we have done – it’s all God. In Isaiah 64:5 Isaiah asks: How then can we be saved? Look at Isaiah’s posture in his prayer: We are constant sinners; how can people like us be saved? 6 We are all infected and impure with sin. When we display our righteous deeds, they are nothing but filthy rags. Like autumn leaves, we wither and fall, and our sins sweep us away like the wind. 7 Yet no one calls on your name or pleads with you for mercy. Therefore, you have turned away from us and turned us over to our sins. 8 And yet, O LORD, you are our Father. We are the clay, and you are the potter. We all are formed by your hand. 9 Don’t be so angry with us, LORD. Please don’t remember our sins forever. Look at us, we pray, and see that we are all your people.

So, in your search or desire for togetherness, let your being drive your doing and your feeling. We are human BEINGS after all. We are created in God’s image. We are adopted sons and daughters of our Father. And WE ARE IN THIS TOGETHER. And the “we” is not just me and HOPE staff and students. "We" includes God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. And thankfully, for Christians, our future is not dependent on us, it is sealed by God and we anxiously await the fullness of our being when we can experience the presence of our heavenly Father.  (Read more in Titus 3:5-7 and 1 Peter 2:9).

We are in this together,

James Brand