April 8, 2025
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My phone's been blowing up for a week or more. Mostly not good news.
Lots of storms. Lots of sadness.
Severe thunderstorm alerts, tornado and flood watches and warnings. Stacked up in my texts like planes waiting to land at O'Hare. Like much of the country, it's been a "Groundhog Day" cycle of one stormy day after another. I miss the sun.
But that's just been the backdrop for days of accumulating grief. I often get "breaking news" on my phone. This week it's been mostly heartbreaking news.
One of my family members, suddenly crushed by the tragic loss of a third brother. The painful death of a coworker's dad - and a dark diagnosis for the father of another. A lifetime friend living the final days of his beloved wife's battle with dementia. Other friends, faced with brutal decisions on behalf of declining parents. And yesterday's medical emergency for a dear friend who's expecting a baby - she went from ER to ambulance to surgery.
Yes, it's been a season of storms and sadness.
But it's also almost Easter.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Easter 2025 - So Much Hurt, So Much Hope."
And, oh, what a difference that "Easter" makes! Not the holiday. The Man!
We all have seasons of compounding loss and grief. Storms that won't stop. Dark clouds that keep obscuring the sun. Times when hope seems swamped by hurt. But the Bible puts an amazing word in front of hope - and that word has the power to change every dark moment we face.
In our word for today from the Word of God in 1 Peter 1:3-6 - it's talking about suffering "grief in all kinds of trials." But then it reveals the divine antidote to despair: "In His great mercy, God has given us a new birth into a" - here's that word - "living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead."
Not sympathy card hope or "positive thoughts" hope. Not hope, the idea or the wish. This is hope, the Person! The One who, as testified to by six historians, 12 disciples and hundreds of eyewitnesses, literally walked out of His grave on Easter morning!
In short, Jesus is alive! He's present. Powerful - having conquered the one force that has stopped every other person who has ever lived.
As the sadnesses and grievings mounted these past few days, I felt increasingly powerless to be of much help.
But since the day I put my trust in Jesus' death for my sins, I have the Living Hope Man to turn to. As I did on that shattering spring day my Karen - my love since I was 19 - was suddenly gone.
On that first Easter Sunday, Mary Magdalene had found Jesus' tomb empty. She was grieving inconsolably in the graveyard garden - when suddenly she heard a familiar voice speaking one life-changing word. "Mary" (John 20:16). And on my darkest day, it was my name He called.
I have asked Jesus to speak to each weeping one on my heart - and speak their name. For Scripture promises that He is "close to brokenhearted" (Psalm 34:18). And that He can go deep in the human heart where no one else can go and bring hope and healing no one else can bring.
Our times of greatest loss are the times of our greatest experiences of His love. I have lived it. I can't carry all the burdens of my wounded loved ones. But if my Jesus has beaten death, surely He can bear their burdens and bring back the sun.
Jesus can simultaneously be holding and hugging each one as if they are the only one. I have felt that hug. I have been carried by Him when I could not take another step.
If you want to have this personal relationship with Jesus, tell Him today, "Jesus, I'm Yours." Go to our website and see how to be sure you belong to Him. It's ANewStory.com.
The storms keep coming. But, Jesus, You are our safe room. And hope wins.