Dear Family and Friends,

As we all know, flying can be pretty boring. But a boring flight is a good flight because we also know that every once in awhile – stuff happens. Like it did for me on one particular red-eye to San Francisco many years ago. 

I was still half asleep when the first officer came out and started pulling up the carpet near my seat. After making a small mess of the aisle, he opened a latch and began shining a flashlight down a peep hole. This was definitely a first for me. After a few minutes of peering, he returned everything to its place and went back to the cockpit. 

I was just starting to doze off when he came out again and repeated the process. This time my curiosity got to me so I asked what he was doing. He mostly ignored me but muttered, “I told him (meaning the captain) that it was down.” 

Needless to say, I was now wide awake. The “it” he was referring to was the landing gear!


We all have those tough days when stuff happens. Life is going along pretty good. So good, it seems a bit boring. Then all of a sudden, without warning, really serious stuff happens. Our life is no longer boring. We long for the return of those boring, anxiety-free days. 

Today we’ll talk about a short and useful verse to keep in our pockets, because we never know when it might be needed. 

“Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.” Romans 12:12 ESV

Rejoice in Hope

Perhaps the best way to explain this is: Happiness can be found in a plane that works.

But can anyone rejoice when the plane stops working? 

We who follow Christ can. For “We put our hope in the Lord. He is our help and our shield. In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name.” Psalms 33:20-21 NLT

But don’t we know that hope differs from person to person? Not every Christian is able to proclaim, ‘I have hope’ and start rejoicing when the plane stops working.

I know this to be true because I wasn’t exactly rejoicing in hope. 

The kind of hope, faith and trust we should aspire to, where we can rejoice despite our circumstances, does not just happen. It requires we take a journey with Christ, one that begins with getting to know Him through His Word. 

What is Jesus really like? Is He kind or kind of stern? Is He weak or is He meek? Is He scolding us or molding us? To love Christ is to first know Him. 

Be Patient in Tribulation

The next step to building our hope and trust in Jesus is to experience Him. What do I mean by that? As we walk through life with Jesus, and we see His goodness time and time again, our trust in Him will grow. 

But it takes patience on our part. Our world’s values have made our hearts rock hard. Life teaches us to trust only in ourselves. Softening that hard rock won’t happen overnight. And lest we forget, some of us have a hard heart and a hard head. 

Nor will our walk be lovely all the time, even with Jesus by our side. The truth is life can be most troublesome, like when the plane’s landing gear won’t go down. But its times like these when our faith and hope in Christ grows most. 

Paul wrote, “we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope.” Romans 5:3-4 ESV

Suffering helps to accelerate the difficult transition from trusting in self to trusting in God. Pressing through period after period of suffering builds the endurance necessary to run the marathon called life. 

And as we continue to walk with Jesus, our trust in ourselves, and our love of self, is replaced by a deep trust and love for God; our character looking more and more like that of the fellow we walk with.

Let me pause here to ask: Has stuff happened to you recently? Are you in a period of distress? By now you’re probably mumbling to yourself, “Ahem, endurance is like the last thing I need – right now I need help!”

Well rest assured, this last phrase is for you.    

Be Constant in Prayer

The Greek translation of this phrase says to be constantly devoted to prayer. Why was prayer so important to Paul?

Charles Spurgeon gives us one reason. “Whether we like it or not, asking is the rule of the Kingdom. If you may have everything by asking in His Name, and nothing without asking, I beg you to see how absolutely vital prayer is.”

To understand why asking is a ‘rule’ let’s read two of the many stories of Jesus healing. 

“As soon as they got out of the boat, people recognized Jesus. They ran throughout that whole region and carried the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was. And wherever he went—into villages, towns or countryside—they placed the sick in the marketplaces. They begged him to let them touch even the edge of his cloak, and all who touched it were healed.” Mark 6:54-56 NIV

Now contrast this episode with an earlier one from the same chapter. 

“Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own town, among his relatives and in his own home.” He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. He was amazed at their lack of faith.” Mark 6:4-6 NIV

These verses show that Jesus’ healings did not depend on Him alone.

On the contrary, God’s response to our prayers depends on us first making a request.

Tucked inside our requests to God are declarations of our faith.

Praying is our way of telling God, “We have faith!” This is the rule of the Kingdom. This explains why there are so many verses in both Testaments where God, Jesus and others exhort us to pray. 

So, let’s devote ourselves to prayer, in good times as well as bad, to never give up, to pray like we truly believe, to pray with confidence knowing the truth found in this passage. 

“This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.” 1 John 5:14-15 NIV
 
Yes, life is a struggle. Stuff does happen.

But let’s bravely face those times knowing who’s by our side. And rejoice because we have hope in the blessings to come.

And be patient through those tough days knowing good will come from the bad. And finally, be confident that God hears our prayers.

And in case you were wondering, I prayed. It turned out we didn’t need all those emergency vehicles that lined the runway for our landing. All that was needed was a new lightbulb in the cockpit. 

Thank you, Jesus, for answering our prayers.

In love always,