Tag Archives: inspiration

Hope

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Again, my tagline…

Artifacts of faith, hope, and love.

It sounds deep and mushy, but what does it really mean.

I like making things.  That’s the ‘Artifacts’ part but what about the other stuff.  “Do you make mushy, touchy feely stuff/artifacts?”  Sort of, I guess. (clay IS mushy)

Ok, so I’m a Jesus follower.  I think Jesus is awesome.  Again, He is the reason those three terms, faith, hope, and love have meaning to me.  But not in a traditionally religious sense.

The word ‘Hope’ has been associated with political campaigns, social charities, and used as a popular name for girls. For me the word ‘Hope’ is closely related to the word (and my personal definition of) ‘Faith‘.  In my world, Hope (if I were to personify it) is pretty much the mother of Faith.  Hope comes before Faith.  Before you can believe something is possible for you personally, there has to be an idea or thought that the “good thing”, the solution, the answer…Hope: Believing Spring exists even though it's Winter

Exists.

Ok, so what does Jesus have to do with that.

Well.

Hope is the reason Jesus even existed on the earth…

Romans 4:18 (NLT)
Even when there was no reason for hope, Abraham kept hoping–believing that he would become the father of many nations. For God had said to him, “That’s how many descendants you will have!”

Without Abraham’s hope, Jesus wouldn’t have been born.  Abraham should have given up on having kids quite frankly.  But, because God gave him a promise (the HOPE that it WAS possible), he believed.   For Abraham, the promise was his hope.

So, what do you believe is possible?  Are there things you haven’t even considered as existing in your life and therefore are lacking hope?

Do you have hope?

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Faith

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My tagline…

Artifacts of faith, hope, and love.

What does it mean.  It sounds deep and mushy, but what does it really mean. I mean REALLY.

So, you can see I like making things.  Well that takes care of the ‘Artifacts’ part but how does that apply to the other stuff.  “Do you make mushy, touchy feely stuff/artifacts?”  Sort of but not exactly (I mean, clay IS mushy)

Personally I’m a Jesus follower.  Jesus is awesome.  He is the reason those three terms, faith, hope, and love have meaning to me.  But not in a traditionally religious sense.  When some people hear of or think about the word ‘faith’ they think of organized religion, i.e. ‘What is your faith?’ Anglican, Methodist, Hindu, Buddist, Islam, Baha’i, you get the picture.  For me faith, more holistically, means what do you believe is possible for you, personally.

Ok, so what does Jesus have to do with that.

Well,  I’ll just quote him directly…

Matthew 19:26 (NIV)
Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

And in another quote…

Mark 9:21-24 (NIV)
21 Jesus asked the boy’s father, “How long has he been like this?”
“From childhood,” he answered. 22 “It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.”
23 “‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for one who believes.”
24 Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”

All things are possible for one who believes.(And that was a pretty far out situation Jesus was responding to!)

So Jesus states that anything is possible if you choose to believe. But wait, that’s not all.  He then proceeds to back it up with his actions.  Repeatedly.  Even in the face of ridiculous odds and impossible circumstances. (just read Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John)

He now challenges us to do the same.

What do you believe is true about you?  Is it actually true?  Should it change?  Do you believe it can?

I do.

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