Light at the end of the tunnel

So what do you see when you look at this picture? Is it the light that signifies the long anticipated exit of the dark and dreary tunnel? Is the light that could possibly signify impending doom of a rushing train that is barreling down on your position? Does what you see change at the end of this tunnel change depending on the day?the hour?the moment?

If you are anything like me my answer to what I see can change depending on the circumstances of my day. This back and forth is frustrating for me because I want to be the person who sees the bright light of the exit and not the one who sees a speeding train hurling towards me. The question for has been how can I become the man who sees the exit and not the train and the answer is as simple and complex as the Gospel.

Colossians 1:23 gives us the picture of the hope held out by the Gospel. I believe it is this hope that helps to lead us from seeing the train to seeing the exit. I know these words see hollow to many people. The may even seem like they somehow diminish the real and hard struggles that you have. Please hear me when I say that I fully understand that just because you are a follower of Jesus that does not  mean that struggling with depression becomes obsolete. I know from my own life that depression is real and that struggling with it does not mean you are some how not a good Christian. I know for me that when I walk through the dark valleys of depression it is the hope given by the Gospel that allows me to climb out of the darkness.

It is this kind of hope that the world so desperately longs for. It is this hope and perspective that the church needs to have as well so that we are best able to stand in the gap and resist the attacks of the enemy. This is the power of the Gospel is that it brings hope and light in to the darkest places of this world including our own hearts and mind.