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    Air travel in the U.S. during the 2000 holiday season was absolute chaos. Abnormally cold temperatures, three huge low pressure cold fronts, pilot slowdowns, ice storms, hundreds of flight cancellations, and huge traveler load made for very challenging travel. Of course, our family flew to Florida from Texas and back in the middle of the mess. We arrived 13 hours late on one leg of the trip because of cancelled flights and weather. We had to be routed all over the southern U.S. to get back home, because of more cancelled flights and the pilot slowdown.

    Thankfully, we got to both destinations safely. It required, however, all of my accumulated flight ingenuity and negotiation skills to make it happen. Both flight days were at least 14 hours of mad scramble, with one set of alternative travel arrangements made while we were in transit to the airport. Did this happen because we were negligent or last minute in our planning? No way! We had confirmed reservations more than a month ahead of departure. Circumstances beyond our control changed everything!

    Life can be a lot like that. We can pray, plan, and prepare, only to see everything rearranged because of circumstances we can’t influence. No matter how careful we may be, problems we couldn’t have imagined can leave us rushing to recover. Life can become a mad scramble no matter how faithfully, prayerfully, or righteously we have lived. In our interconnected world, issues half a world away can impact our jobs, our safety, and our stability. People we love can become unexpectedly ill, or decide to abandon us, or worse. Life can become a fractured mess of broken dreams and confusing mayhem.

Can we hang in, hang on, and hold true?

    The real issue is not why these unforeseen messes, challenges, or disasters have touched our world. These unfortunate events are just part of living in a fractured world waiting for its ultimate deliverance (Romans 8:20-22). No, the issue is our faithfulness during those times when things are difficult and the Lord’s deliverance seems distant. Can we hang in, hang on, and hold true during these storms that blow through our lives? It’s not all that hard to be faithful when things are going according to our plans and the Lord’s presence seems very clear. It’s easier to keep faith when we’re soaring on wings like eagles and running without growing weary; it’s far harder when we have to keep on trudging along without growing faint. (cf. Isaiah 40:28-31)

    I am absolutely confident that the Lord longs to bless you in the year ahead. That’s his desire. I am absolutely sure that the Lord will bring all of his children to ultimate victory when he returns to take us home with him. But, being part of a world family, some of us will face intense persecution, some will suffer through incredible poverty, and some will deal with horrible personal challenges. Some of this is the result of the influence of the Evil One. Some of it is just being connected to a fallen world, or loving broken and sinful people. These challenges, however, do not mean the Lord has forgotten us or forsaken his promises to us. It does mean that we will get to show the sincerity of our faith and the genuineness of our commitment through these trials. But, if we are willing to be faithful, to endure and to persevere, we can be confident that when the mad scramble is over, we will find ourselves in the great victory celebration of the Lamb.

    Whatever surprises you find in the days ahead, please, don’t quit, don’t give up, and don’t despair. Stick to it, hang on through it, and share in the glory that awaits you.

“We are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved.” (Hebrews 10:39)