Hope Has a Name….Jesus!

All I remember is a chaotic night in our little apartment on the south side of Chicago. My parents whisked my baby brother out the door, wrapped in a blanket. My grandmother whisked me off to her house.

I never saw my baby brother, Steven, again. The doctors weren’t even sure what he died from.

My daddy seemed to cry all the time. He was a broken man. Knowing what I know now, I would say he was inconsolable—without hope. 

One day, my broken daddy decided to put his life in the hands of the Savior who was broken for him. He was never the same.  And while he never got over the death of my brother, he was known by everyone for his smile, his joy, and his encouragement.

God's Word says we “do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope.” 

With Jesus, yes, we grieve. But there’s something on the other side of the scale—hope—because of Jesus. We have hope because of His love and His heaven. Without Jesus, it’s just the agony of grief.

Our embattled lives on earth are not all there is. This is the opening act—the warm-up, the beginning. This is Hotel Earth—not home.

We can think differently in our grieving because of the revolution made possible by the resurrection. Jesus added a transformative word to the word life—everlasting. It’s in the “everlasting” zone that we find meaning for our pain, healing for our brokenness, and hope for our “hopelessness.”

It is our choices that determine whether life’s hard hits take us to a bitter place or a better place. And the foundation for choices where hope wins is a cross on a hill and a tomb that is empty.

Standing there, we are ready to confront the hurt and the loss that make hope so hard to hang onto.

The Savior who carried a cross is there to help me carry my burden.

And, when I am too weak to go on, He even carries me.

This Savior who is weaving my life here into an eternal tapestry says in my dark time, “This isn’t the story—this is only a chapter.”

This death-crushing Jesus stands by me at a fresh grave and whispers, “This isn’t the end. It’s the beginning.” It's the unseen but certain hope that energizes a buoyant confidence, defying life’s deepest hurts and darkest valleys. 

Hope has a name. His name is Jesus.  He is living hope.