What I have learned about hope

Everybody needs hope. It is what makes living in a broken world worth it. It is what gets us out of bed in the morning. To have hope, means to believe the future will be brighter even in the darkest circumstances. When you live with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD), circumstances can seem pitch black. Being unable to move your body and bound to a wheelchair, I have missed out on so many things. I have never been able to hold my niece or nephew in my arms. I have never been able to fully experience dancing with a woman or on my own. And I have never been able to pursue art, like sketching and painting, that I once had a great talent for. Besides missing out on so many simple pleasures, death looms in my mind like a massive shadow. Sometimes, this shadow can seem so big that it literally feels suffocating. DMD, which causes my muscles to breakdown without being able to regenerate themselves, causes deadly side effects. Because the heart is a muscle, I am in chronic heart failure. Without medication and  constant monitoring by my doctors, my heart would worsen until it killed me. Further, muscle breakdown has given me severe pulmonary issues. Without certain breathing devices used during the day and while I sleep, I could suffocate and die. Having chronic heart failure and severe pulmonary issues means a simple cold or stomach virus could become pneumonia or sepsis and therefore life threatening. All this may sound hopeless, but I have a hope reaching beyond the confines of this world.

            Many misunderstand, including many Christians, the ultimate hope that Christianity has to offer. It is thought that Jesus came, so those who believe in him will go to some vague paradise known as heaven as a disembodied spirit with other disembodied spirits. This is not the hope Christianity offers. The hope of Christianity is the hope of resurrection. When Jesus returns to the Earth, he will raise the dead back to life in the bodies they once had but in a completely transformed state. These transformed bodies will be free of disease, fatigue, and any sort of physical decay. They will be able to fully experience the deep pleasure of eating and drinking. And they will be able to fully appreciate the warm embrace of family and friends. In these new bodies, we will still live on Earth but renewed and in the full presence of God. In this renewed Earth, there will be no more pollution, no more poverty, and no more starvation or hunger. Since we will all continue to live on Earth, everything good and beautiful created throughout the ages will remain to be enjoyed. All the great works of art, all the greatest novels, and all the greatest recipes will remain to be enjoyed. This is the great hope that gets me out of bed each morning. Even though my body is weak and decaying, I have faith that I will one day have a transformed body free of DMD. This body will be capable of holding my niece and nephew warmly in my arms. It will be capable of dancing with a woman and on my own. It will be forever free from the looming shadow of death.