What does the future hold?

Wouldn’t you like to know. Or would you?

Our good friends who live in Germany have arrived in Canada to visit their son and daughter-in-law who live here. Their son is battling cancer, and a serious, aggressive cancer. She wrote to us the other day that they have now planned for the funeral and burial. He’s in his 20’s.

As I read that, I imagine you can feel its weight.

Knowing the future can be a hard thing. And most of the time we don’t seem to give it much thought. Have you noticed how we roll from day to day with the assumption that we have all the time in the world. But not so.

So what then?

Paul writes to the church in Corinth, the church he had chided for their behaviour, that they “live by faith not by sight.” 2 Corinthians 5:7

And what does that mean for us? I think for the most part it is a posture of trust. I trust that though I cannot see the future, Jesus can – and He might not rescue me from every difficult time, rather He will walk with me, even carry me (to use a metaphor) through these times.

These words of Paul are set in a lengthy discourse where he reminds the Corinthians that live is fragile and can be difficult. And can you imagine what that meant in the first century under Roman rule? Whew!

But Paul says – you can trust Jesus. He not only has His in His hand but His care is not just for this life, but also for the life to come!

So here’s a musical reminder of what I think Paul is saying.