Faith, Hope, and Love Win

It was ten years ago. Some days it doesn’t seem that long ago. Some days it does. Like every other Tuesday, I took the day off from being a pastor and was driving the forty-five minute commute from Spencer, Iowa to Cherokee, Iowa to be a chaplain at the Northwest Iowa Mental Health Institute. I was changing the radio stations and stopped when I heard one of the radio announcers praying for the events that happened in New York. I turned to a new station and heard a commercial airplane had crashed into one of the towers at the World Trade Center.

I spent the rest of the day watching the news with a co-worker, a Catholic nun, and dozens of patients at the hospital. I saw things I thought I would never see in this country: giant buildings collapsing, air traffic being grounded, and a nation under attack. 

A nation lived in fear. Hearts were broken. Hope was temporarily suspended.

We did a worship service that night at Grace United Methodist Church. It originally started off as a prayer service in the chapel. Fifteen minutes before the service was supposed to start, the little chapel was overflowing with people so we moved worship to the Sanctuary. Hundreds of people from the community packed the Sanctuary. I read from the 23rd Psalm: 

Even when I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me. Your rod and your staff protect and comfort me. 

I left the church that night knowing more clearly and believing more passionately: people need God. 

It was five years ago. Some days it doesn’t seem that long ago. Some days it does. I walked into Russell Middle School knowing more clearly and believing more passionately that people need God. The launch of The Water’s Edge appropriately was experiencing rain. Not the normal polite Nebraska rain that gently falls from the sky. Buckets of water accompanied with gale force winds. The commons area at the school didn’t fill up fifteen minutes early. It never filled up at all. But the first page of the dream of dozens of committed people was written. Hundreds of pages have been written since that day. It has been a great five years. 

Faith is replacing fear. Hearts are being healed. Hope is alive and we believe tomorrow can be better than yesterday.

This morning, as we reflect on the events from ten years ago, we remember how fragile and how precious human life is. We pledge not to take life for granted and give thanks to God by fully living each day. So we also celebrate The Water’s Edge being five years old this morning. We started and we will continue living out and sharing the Gospel because we believe more than ever that people need God. 

Fear, despair, and hatred lose. Faith, hope, and love win. 

The best is yet to come… 

Craig