What Hope

A few years ago I had a chance to take a vacation to South Africa. While I enjoyed the excitement of Cape Town, the beautiful scenery of the mountains and the ocean and the countryside, and seeing the wild animals on the safaris, I couldn't help but feel a sadness when I saw the people. Our guide told us the country is filled with poverty, crime, disease--particularly AIDS—and despair. We were especially warned when in Cape Town to be careful about pickpockets, and not to go into certain areas of the city. "How awful. What hope do these people have?" I wondered.

And then two things happened. While our bus was traveling through a marketplace, I saw a sign hanging at the back of one of the stalls that proclaimed, "Jesus is my Savior!" And in the shop at one of the lodges where we stayed, a man behind the counter was wearing an interesting looking pendant on a chain. Upon looking more closely, I saw that it was a cutout figure of a man's face. "Is that supposed to be Jesus?" I asked boldly. "Yes," he replied proudly. "I came to know Him 10 years ago." I was at peace. What hope do those people have? The same hope we all have—Jesus Christ. He reaches out to us wherever we are, whether we're rich or poor, or whether we're in the United States or South Africa.

"Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? Hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance."- Psalm 42:5

Lois Thomson
Writer