Final Words of Hope

Today I really didn't want to be in church. Pews are just not the most comfortable thing when your belly no longer fits between your knees and your ribs. But I am glad that I went, for today's message was like a perfect bookend on this season of life.

The Sunday after Lia was stillborn, back in December of 2007, our pastor began teaching from Matthew. In our church, a book like Matthew can take years to complete - and in the past 14 months we have traveled through only the first 7 chapters. Verse by verse we have moved along, through the Christmas story, the early life of Jesus, John the Baptist, the Temptation, the Beatitudes, the Lord's Prayer, and the Sermon on the Mount. Today's message was from Jesus' final words in the Sermon on the Mount:

"Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash."

I look at my house and the storms it has been through in the past years. With our first child, we endured three moves and a hurricane, with our second an unexpected deployment just weeks after her arrival, with our third a storm unlike any I thought I would ever survive. And yet our home stands, our children our strong, our marriage resilient, and our hope secure.

Matthew begins with the birth of a baby, a little baby that saved the world. Our church began the study in Matthew as I said goodbye to a baby who changed my life. And today, we ended our study of Christ's sermon with His words of hope which endures all storms.

Today was probably the last Sunday before our little daughter is born. And Christ's final words to the people gathered are also in a sense final words of hope to me as this season of pregnancy comes to an end. His final words, encouraging me to continue building my faith and my home on the solid rock, are the same words He has given me throughout this past year as one hymn has continued to come to my mind:

My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus love and righteousness
I dare not trust the sweetest frame but wholly lean on Jesus name
On Christ the Solid Rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand,
all other ground is sinking sand.