Our Hope in a Broken World
Dear Friends,
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My dad was sitting on the edge of the bed. I can still see him after all these years. His world had been shattered. My mom had left us. He had two young boys to care for and he was trying to sort out his emotions. As he strummed the guitar he sang Eddy Arnold's song, "Make the World Go Away." I was too young to understand back then but he was revealing his broken heart through the music.
Hank Cochran wrote that song in the early 1960's. The story goes that a thought came to him while he was on a date at the movies. He rushed home afterwards and penned the words. It became an instant hit. No matter who sang it, it rose to the top of the charts. It touched a chord within us. Eddy Arnold's name became synonymous with it as it hit #1 on the charts. It became his signature song back in 1965.
We live in a broken world. Hank Cochran had the ability to capture it with his music. Just listen to Patsy Cline singing, "I Fall to Pieces." She tells the story of a love story gone cold. That was another of Cochran’s songs. His music connected with the audience because he wrote about the realities that many of us have lived through. My dad wasn't the first person to deal with disappointment and a marriage gone bad.
The best artists among us have this uncanny ability to translate life's challenges into a medium that we can relate to. Whether it is through song, art, poetry or literature, these artists capture what the rest of us are experiencing. Their offerings touch us and help us express what we are going through in a concrete way.
I didn't know much about life as a ten-year-old but I knew my father was struggling with what happened to our family that summer. Over the years, I have learned that on any given Sunday there are people sitting in congregations across America who are singing that same song. Their world is spiraling out of control and they just want it to go away. The good news is that God steps into the gap to help.
King David, in his own poetic way, penned dozens of the psalms that speak to this universal experience. He knew God. In his poetry he points us to the hope we have in our creator. Psalm 73:26 says, "My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart." In Psalm 23:4 he says, "Even though I walk through the shadow of the valley of death, I will fear no evil for You are with me."
It is our faith that makes a way through the darkness of difficult times. Isaiah reminds us that God says, "When you pass through the waters I will be with you." In his letter to the Philippians, the Apostle Paul reminds us that God can do what we can't. He says, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." In other words, God will help us overcome troubled times.
Isaiah tells us that those who "hope in the Lord, will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles." Finally, we hear this from the Gospel of John in chapter 16. Jesus says, "I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart: I have overcome the world." My father found this later in life and he found his peace.
God bless Hank Cochran. He identified the problem. But I thank God for Jesus. He is our hope in a troubled world.
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God bless. See you in church.
Pastor Cal