This past weekend I attended a memorial service for the husband of a friend of mine in Niagara Falls. He had actually passed away several months ago. He spent several weeks in the VA in Buffalo and later was in a nursing home under Hospice care. Before he passed away my friend had some very serious surgery and then was in a rehab facility and unable to be with her husband even as his life came to an end. She was finally able to schedule the date for his memorial service. It’s been a very sad situation.

Life is like that, isn’t it? There are so many dark clouds that engulf us at various times and drag us down in the pits of despair. But whenever we find ourselves surrounded by these clouds we need to realize that we, as Christians, have a hope unlike what the world would call hope. Our hope is in the Lord Jesus Christ. Although we still may face those dark clouds in our lives, one day it will be different.

In the hymn, “There’ll Be No Dark Valley,” by William Chusing, he tells us

There’ll be no: dark valley, no more sorrow, and no more weeping.

And when Jesus comes: There will be a glorious morrow, a blessed reaping,

songs of greeting, and a joyful meeting – when Jesus comes to gather His loved ones home.

I love that hope, don’t you?