"I never lost faith in the end of the story."

From 1965 to 1973 James Bond Stockdale (yes you read that right) served as a prisoner of war in Vietnam. He had ejected out of his plane and parachuted into a village where he was held captive and treated brutally for 8 long years. While there he never gave in, in fact he became the leader of the resistance amongst the prisoners. He kept them strong and focused. 

Years later he was asked how he got through it. He said, “I never lost faith in the end of the story. I never doubted not only that I would get out, but also that I would prevail in the end, and turn the experience into the defining event of my life, which, in retrospect, I would not trade.” 

 

The interviewer then asked, “Who didn’t make it?” To which the then admiral replied, “Oh that’s easy, the optimists. They’re the ones who said, ‘We’re going to be out by Christmas.’ And Christmas would come, and Christmas would go. Then they’d say, ‘We’re going to be out by Easter.’ And Easter would come, and Easter would go. And then Thanksgiving, and then it would be Christmas again. And they died of a broken heart.”

 

He went on to explain, “This is a very important lesson. You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end—which you can never afford to lose—with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.” 

 

Man, I can relate to those optimists! I can’t tell you how many times I have said, “Oh this will all be over by the summer… by the fall… by Christmas.” Now I am saying it will be over by February.

 

The problem with these expectations is that I am putting my hope in something I have made up and when that doesn’t come true it affects me deeply. We need to put our hope into something we know is true. In the words of Admiral James Bond Stockdale, we need to “out our faith in the end of the story.” 

 

When it comes to the pandemic I do believe we will prevail and we will be stronger than before. Things will be different for quite some time – but there will be a light at the end of the tunnel. I don’t know what that will be – just that it will be. 

 

What I know even more firmly is that in the end those who are followers of Christ will come to a home that is beyond our ability to imagine. 

 

I love Revelation 21:4, “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

 

I think we often get discourage because we keep looking horizontally at the current state of things and we keep hoping for a horizontal end. We need to, in the words of Paul, keep our eyes on things above – where our lives are hidden with Christ – in God. 

 

No matter how hard it is right now, and I know it’s hard, we must never lose faith in the end of our story. This is the great peace of the Christian. We don’t know what a day will bring but we do know how it all will end – in glory!

 

Love you church!