A Word of Hope

Tommy Dillon


"Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil; for you are with me; your rod and your staff – they comfort me." (Psalm 23:4)


Advent is the liturgical season of anticipation. It is the time when we anticipate the coming of Jesus into our world. But this past Advent, I waited for more than the coming of the Christ child, I waited and hoped that three climbers on Mt. Hood would be found alive. I felt as though I got to know Kelly James, Brian Hall and Jerry Cooke during the three week ordeal. I vividly remember watching television the day they thought they had found the snow cave. I found myself constantly checking news reports of any updates on the three climbers. I never met any of the climbers, I've never climbed mountains and I've never even been to Washington State. So I began to question why not only me, but what seemed to be the rest of the world was so captivated by this story. As I thought more about it, I began to realize that we were so hopeful that the three men would be found alive because for what we could tell, they had done everything right. They had left notes on their route and their climbing abilities with the park rangers at Mt. Hood. They even left notes on what they would do if something went wrong. Indeed something did go wrong and climber Kelly James was laid to rest in Dallas last week; and the other two remain missing.

Do you ever feel as though you are doing everything right and yet nothing is going the way you intend it to? Do you ever wonder if God has simply abandoned or given up on you? The first week of this new year has been really tough for me and members of our parish family with news of illness, broken relationships, family tensions, unhappy former employees, financial woes and death of loved ones. The reality of human existence is that there are difficult times when things do not go "our way." Even if we do everything perfectly by human standards, it does not mean that life always turns out the way we want it to. However, as a people of faith, we are guided by the one thing that can NEVER be taken away from us... our relationship with God. If we will turn to it, God is the source of strength in difficult times and never leaves us in the "darkest valley." May the light of the newborn Christ child guide us when we feel as though we are walking in darkness.

"Creator God, grant me your strength in difficult times. Amen."



Tommy+