Note from Tyler: Today’s post is from a great musician and worship pastor (and writer as you’ll see), John Tibbs. John just recently released an album that is available for free. Having listened through it several times myself, this is one you don’t want to miss. I hope you enjoy this post where John dives more deeply into one of the songs on this album.
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Hope seems to be something so fluid. It comes and it goes. The idea that hope is constant is a notion that is daunting at times.
My dad lost his job. A friend was diagnosed with terminal cancer. My co-worker lost their house to a fire. A neighbor was left in divorce. And disease plagues so many close friends.
This is a world that most call ‘reality.’ I choose to call it ‘temporary.’ I believe this brokenness will not last forever, that there will indeed come a day of wholeness and peace, of love and grace.
And so, I choose hope.
And by choosing hope, heaven collides with earth. My sorrows are not erased, but yet I am sustained. I have courage. Emily Dickinson once said, ‘Hope is the thing with feathers, that perches in the soul, and sings the tune without the words, and never stops at all.’ I resonate with that. I want hope to be a never–ending melody sounding in my bones.
This is the place in my heart that this project comes from. It shares my personal journey—searching for, waiting on, encountering, and responding to…hope. This journey is one of pain and trials, of hard work and discipline. It is difficult to choose hope. However, it is by the grace of Jesus that hope is offered. And so, again, I choose hope.
This story—I feel like everywhere I look there are broken hearts, empty souls, and sick bodies. In the separation between heaven and earth, it is easy to forget who Jesus is. That God is alive and active. That he is good and just.
I have created these songs out of a place of remembering God’s faithfulness. For me, and I hope for you, it is a pillar to remind me of God’s activity in my life. That he was a part of my yesterday, present today, and knows what tomorrow will bring.
This is my story, and this is your story—together, it is our story, that our God of Hope is swallowing death, and breathing life.
