Do you remember the Tom Hanks movie called Cast Away? He played a FedEx employee named Chuck. 

His plane crashed into the sea. Chuck was the only survivor and washed up onto a deserted island. Several packages also washed ashore. He opened them hoping that the contents would help him survive. 

One package contained hockey stakes. Therefore, he had a blade. One package contained a volleyball which eventually became a friend named “Wilson.” 

But one package he never opened. He kept it with him the whole four years he spent on the island. When he finally escaped, he took it with him and returned it to the original sender who lived in rural Texas. No one was home so he left it with a note which read: “This package saved my life.”*

Why did he write that? Because the package represented hope. Hope that he would survive. Hope that he would get off the island. Hope that someone would eventually get that package and that he would be the blessed soul to deliver it. 

If you are a child of God you are a child of hope.

Hope that light will finally snuff out darkness. Hope that pain will fade and then morph into everlasting laughter. Hope that life will fully and finally dropkick the skull of death out of the park. Hope that God can and does bring good out of bad.

Psalm 39:7 says very succinctly: “My hope is in you.” Since God is good, loving, holy, true and just, that means that goodness, love, truth, holiness and justice are never down for the count.

If you are a child of God you are a child of hope.

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Notes:

–Bible quotes are from the NIV.

–*Cast Away was released in 2000. It was produced by ImageMovers and Playtone, and distributed by 20th Century Fox.