Hope

i heard this today in the sermon i was listening to. its the easter sermon from mars hill if you wanna hear it yourselves. its an excerpt of some movie. this guy, Sir Walter Rolly (a real explorer in the late 1500s) is explaining to the queen about whats its like to sail across the Atlantic in search of the new world.

"Can you imagine what it is to cross an ocean? For weeks you see nothing but the horizon, perfect and empty. You live in the grip of fear. Fear of storms. Fear of sickness on board. Fear of the immensity. So you must drive that fear down deep into your belly. Study your charts - watch your compass. Pray for a fair wind - and hope. Pure, naked, fragile hope...

At first its no more than a haze on the horizon. So you watch. You watch. then its a smudge. A shadow on the far water. For a day. For another day. The stain slowly spreads along the horizon taking form. Until - on the third day you let yourself believe - you dare to whisper the word...land. land. life. resurrection. A true adventure. Coming out of the vast unknown - out of the immensity - into new life. That, your majesty is the new world."

i love this metaphor.
i love the words that describe my thoughts/feelings so well.
i love that we beat back fear with truth and knowledge.
i love how powerful and necessary hope is.
i love that hope is described a pure, naked and fragile.
i love that hope is fulfilled.
i love that restoration and resurrection - and new life are future realities...but also here NOW.