Soul Food
A volunteer firefighter in Indiana recently had the surprise of a lifetime. Charles Calvin, of New Chicago, Ind., told WGN 9 he withdrew $200 from his checking account at an ATM on April 13th. Calvin glanced down on his receipt and noticed just a few more zeroes than usual. His bank account balance was now a cool $8.2 million!
Calvin was supposed to receive $1,700 from the stimulus payments going out to Americans to help assist those impacted by the corona-virus. The volunteer firefighter said he ran his card through the ATM again to make sure it was accurate, and there it was: BOOM. He was a millionaire. Can’t you wait to get your stimulus check!?
Calvin told the station that he called his bank to report his newfound wealth, but by the time they investigated, the money was gone. His bank did inform him that his $1,700 stimulus payment was deposited, although he’s still wondering if the mistake was a fluke or if taxpayers in the U.S. aren’t receiving the right amount. Probably it’s the latter. Wouldn’t you agree?
“It kind of sucks,” the volunteer firefighters told WGN 9. “Here we are in quarantine and you go from being a millionaire one second then back to being broke again. But hey, once you’re poor you don’t have anywhere else to go but up, if life ever gets back to normal that is.”
Welcome to living life in, what many a Christian writer has called, the “in-between.” This is us as Christ-followers basking in the glow of our celebration of the risen Christ and yet still sheltered in by COVID 19 eagerly awaiting life as normal. We are people living in-between.
“He is risen!” “He is risen indeed!” Don’t you feel like a millionaire in hearing that? But don’t go see your loved ones yet. Don’t share the risen Christ personally with a neighbor yet. Will the money run out if I don’t keep my job? Is there even enough money for stimulus checks? For that matter will there ever be a “normal” again as we knew it?
We live in-between the virus and the cure, a dark world and glorious heaven in light of the empty tomb. It’s easy to believe we aren’t really millionaires because Jesus is alive. The deposit was phony or at least not for this life. How do you live hopefully in-between? Well, here is one Scriptural life line for a hope filled life living in the in-between.
A. Remember your hope is as alive as Jesus - always! Writing to beleaguered Christians of Asia Minor living in-between Peter says, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,” (1 Peter 1:3).
Mel Blanc was the voice behind all the cartoon characters in Looney Tunes. At the end of every show you would see Porky Pig pop up with the same send-off: “That’s all, folks!” Porky was saying, “If you live only in-between sooner or later the show’s over. A futile end is coming.” Mel Blanc died over 30 years ago. Know what his family put on his tombstone? Yes, they did.
Peter is reminding us, by God-given faith in Jesus, we never have to say, “That’s all folks.” We really are millionaires in a fully alive Jesus who gives us up to the minute hope. THE BEST IS YET TO BE. This personal, fully alive hope, is grounded in the objective reality of Jesus Christ’s resurrection from the dead. The resurrection of Christ is the crowning point of his redemptive work and the valid foundation for all of God’s saving work, both present and future. Believe Jesus got out of the grave and you have hope fully alive for the future.
This “living hope” is also a lively hope for us here and now in any crisis. A man drowning at sea, no matter how near death, always perks up when he sees the shore. Normal may never return. Self-sheltering may continue. An economy may tank. These waves may pummel us but Christians keep striking out toward the heavenly shore with hope in their hearts in the Risen Christ. Let’s keep swimming and save as many along the way as we can! After all, he lives.
Eugene Lang, the self-made millionaire, will be best remembered for his impulsive gesture in June 1981, when he was invited to deliver the commencement address to 61 sixth graders at Public School 121 in Manhattan. What could he say to inspire these students living in the poverty of in-between, most of whom would drop out of school? He wondered how he could get these predominantly African American and Puerto Rican children even to look at him.
Scrapping his notes, he decided to speak to them from his heart. “Stay in school,” he admonished, “and I’ll help pay the college tuition for every one of you.” He told them that he would earmark $2,000 for each of them toward college tuition and that he would add more money each year that they stayed in school. There was stunned silence, peppered with a few audible gasps. Then students, parents and teachers cheered and mobbed him. Nearly 90 percent of that class went on to graduate from high school!! Why?
Kids felt like millionaires. Hope came alive in the heart of those living in the in-between. And they lived hopeful lives. How much more explosive the living hope will be in our lives as Christians remembering what is ours in the Jesus who is alive. He is risen! And hope is alive.