The Word Hope...

What does the word "hope" really mean?

According to Wikipedia: Hope is the belief in a positive outcome related to events and circumstances in one's life. Hope is distinct from positive thinking, which refers to a therapeutic or systematic process used in psychology for reversing pessimism. The term false hope refers to a hope based entirely around a fantasy or an extremely unlikely outcome.

Now when I think about hope I think of two things...

1. Hope that something will get better and look forward to something...
2. If you are a Christian, your Hope lies in Christ... It is more of a promise not something you think will happen, but you know it will...

I was thinking about the first hope... When reading the things going on in Japan and around the world, these people seem to still have hope that things will get better. Even though they have gone through horrible events recently... Then I watch a video of this elderly gentleman that went back to his house and found out that all of his family was gone, his wife, kids and grand kids... You can tell by the look on his face that his hope was gone and despair took over... View Video

I wonder what is going through these peoples minds when they see the horror before them and everything is gone... To even think about all the stuff going on over in Japan is mind boggling and depressing... I know that all these things must happen before Christ comes again... I think alot of times it would be better to have it like in Noah's day when the flood came and everything was gone... There was only one family left and the animals and not all the anguish and horror that people are left with...

These horrible things are happening where they don't worship the same God that is in the Bible and don't know these things that are about to happen... I wonder if they think that if our God would do these things and allow them to happen, then why follow God? They don't have the same hope that there is much more even if you loose your earthly life...

The word "hope" has been a word that has been reeling around lately and the lack of hope... Then I think about how there has to be a difference between 'Faith" and "Hope"... Can you have one without the other? But then I guess it depends on who you put your faith in and what you are hoping for... Not sure how to sum this thought up, it is one of my random thoughts that fly around my head and there is no escaping one without the other I guess... Maybe I should leave the "Faith vs Hope" topic alone for now... I need to think that one out more before confusing myself even more...