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GervaisNews March 2010
March 10, 2010
HOPE a critical component to do life
Romans 5:1-5 (NIV)
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.
Dear Friends and supporters,
The above scripture talks about “HOPE.” That is an interesting concept. We use that word in many ways but one thing for sure is that HOPE can be placed in the wrong thing. Misplaced HOPE can wreak all kinds of havoc in people’s lives. I see this on a daily bases. We can put our hope in money, people, politics, governments, friends, in pastors, etc. but hope placed in any of those things can only bring us discouragement and can often lead to depression. We need to place our hope in the one who is the author of hope, Jesus Christ Himself. Placing hope anywhere else will only result in pain or misery. The only thing that is worse than misplaced hope is not having HOPE at all.
Some scientists wanted to see if hope could make a difference in the inner drive needed to live. They put some Norwegian wharf rats in a tub of water to see how long they would swim. They lasted for seventeen minutes before they stopped swimming and drowned. So they repeated the experiment with a new set of rats, but this time they took the rats out of the water after sixteen minutes and put them back in their cages for a few days. The rats lived and ate for the next few days. When they repeated the experiment with those same rats they swam for thirty-seven hours before they gave up swimming and drowned. The scientists concluded that the difference was that the second set of rats had hope that at any moment they would be rescued from their watery environment and that kept them swimming for 37 hours.
Not too long ago I received a call from a guy who was in the process of going through a divorce. He was put in the mental hospital a few weeks earlier because he was threatening to commit suicide. At that time the police took his gun away from him and were holding it at the station. When he called me that Monday evening he wanted help and asked if he could get together for counseling with me. He didn’t have much hope that his circumstances would ever but he wanted to meet with me to talk. We talked on the phone for about twenty or twenty-five minutes and I made an appointment for him to come into my office to see me the next day. He “seemed” hopeful by the end of our conversation, however later that evening he called his wife to inform her of his plans to get counseling. While on the phone they got into an argument. He hung up and later that night drove to a secluded place in Palm Bay (not far from where we live) and called his wife again. They continued to argue on the phone and while his wife had the phone to her ear, he committed suicide. The wife was beside herself. She called the police but no one knew where he was. Later that morning they found him dead and still holding on to his cell phone.
That is a difficult legacy that he left for his wife and children. There were two factors that drove this young man to end his life. There was one thing missing and another thing present. What was missing was HOPE and what was present was ANGER. I continue to be amazed how the simple emotion of “anger” can motivate people to do something so powerfully destructive; and that to the very people they love the most. It seems that suicide and murder/suicides are in the news just about every week now-a-days. Last week I also had to deal with two other people who were almost at the point of suicide. When someone loses HOPE nothing else in their lives seems to make sense. I have only had a handful of people commit suicide while in relationship with me, but every time it happens it just sucks the wind right out of my sails. In times like that I often begin to question why I am in this field of work; rather then doing construction or working in a factory somewhere. Usually after the emotions and thoughts pass, my sanity returns as I come back to my senses. That is when I realize that I do what I do because I want to make a difference in hurting people’s lives. I know that God has called me to this kind of work but that doesn’t make it any easier when I am forced to face suicide afresh.
The above scripture says that Hope does not disappoint us; but the preceding verse is needed for that statement to make sense. It says, “…suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.” Then it says that hope doesn’t disappoint us. When somebody has hope they can endure just about anything. Rats can swim 135 times longer when they have hope that they will be rescued and people can overcome incredible life situations when they have hope. At Hope Ministries that is what we do; we bring hope to the hopeless, as we walk side by side with them through their difficult circumstances.
One of the ways we are helping people find HOPE is through the "House of Grace" That ministry is up and running and I presently have two men staying in the house right now. Let me explain what that ministry is in a nut chell; I have set up a house in Palm Bay where men can walk out their recovery in a tobacco, drug and alcohol free environment.
Pray for the many people all around us who have little to no hope and who are being buffeted on every side by life. Pray for them that they would find their Hope in Jesus.
Because of Christ,
Lew Gervais
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