Life Goes On

Author: Mark Fenstermacher
August 20, 2021

As I watch the video of Afghans surging onto the Kabul Airport property, and filling USAF Globemasters, I remember a night long ago when our family stood in the darkness of an African night waiting to board a Globemaster. Fleeing violence, we each held only the 5 pounds of personal possessions we were allowed to take with us.

We walked up the ramp and into the massive hold of an airplane built to carry troops, trucks and tanks. A cargomaster watched over us, the crew helped settle us, and then the massive door in the front of the aircraft closed. My Dad was asked to tend to a young woman who was about to go into labor. The engines of the aircraft came to life. And that huge airplane rumbled down the runway, lifted off, and took us south to safety.

If you’ve ever been in a cave when all the flashlights were turned off, you know what absolute darkness is like. When we read the headlines about the unfolding human tragedy in Afghanistan, the multiple crises of hurricane damage, political instability and chronic poverty in Haiti, and the shocking rise in COVID-19 cases as more than 30% of the country refuses to be vaccinated (many also refusing to mask when in crowds), it may feel like we are in the center of absolute darkness.

I told someone last week that so many headlines are so grim I find my hope in humanity flickering like a candle on a windswept night. Too often we seem to be choosing selfishness over compassion, violence over peace, injustice over justice, profits over environmental health, and hate over love.

Humanity may get it wrong too often, but God is faithful. God is God. God is love. And as long as there is God, there is a future.

The beautiful verse of Hebrews 11 reminds us that faith stands out in tough times: “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”

Faith, you see, isn’t something that flourishes because life is easy and the headlines of our lives are sweet, but faith insists on growing even when the darkness is deep. Faith insists on growing even though the rain fails to fall.

Maybe that is one thing the Bible has to teach us if we will let it: faith flourishes in the desert. Faith—in God!—flourishes in exile. Faith in the steadfast love of God brings life to the weary human heart even when the walls of the city have been broken down, and the jackals of selfishness chatter among the ruins.

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The great poet, Robert Frost, suffered greatly. His parents died young. He outlived four of his children: one died of cholera at the age of four,  another died by suicide, a daughter died at 29 in childbirth, and another died as an infant. Frost, his mother, his daughter and his wife all suffered from depression. There is more pain in his story but it isn’t the pain I want to tell you about: I want to tell you about what Frost said he had learned about life.

On his 80th birthday, Frost was interviewed by Ray Josephs. Josephs asked the poet what he had learned in all his years and in all his travels.

Frost paused, raised an eyebrow, and answered in this way: “In three words, I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life. It goes on. In all the confusions of today, with all our troubles...with politicians and people slinging the word fear around, all of us become discouraged...tempted to say this is the end, the finish. But life—it goes on. It always has. It always will. Don’t forget that.”

It may feel like we are standing in absolute darkness, but faith in God is an amazing thing: God is faithful and life goes on. Faith stirs us to action when despair would immobilize us.

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Faith doesn’t give up but faith goes on. Faith acts. Faith does. 

Faith is making a gift of the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) to aid relief efforts in Haiti. You can make an online donation here to give directly to UMCOR. Or you can give a gift through our church noting it is for Haiti relief.

Faith is advocating for Afghan refugees, petitioning political leaders to help our friends escape danger and get to safety, welcoming any Afghans who may find their way to northeastern Indiana, and being ready to give a financial gift as we explore ways we can help in this crisis. (The Bible teaches us to welcome the stranger and help the ones in need.)

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One night in Kenya, about five years ago, I looked out over a vast plain. There was so much darkness but there were also several points of light. In this darkness, let faith light a fire of hope in you.  In this darkness, be the light. In this darkness, remember that life goes on.

Join us Sunday at 8:30 or 11 online or in-person for worship as we continue our series of messages Soul Songs. Pray through Psalm 105 and come ready to worship the God who is faithful even in tough times.

It is a joy knowing you, serving with you, and leaning into God’s future.

In Christ,
Pastor Mark

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