Hope Is A Good thing

Dear Red, If you're reading this, you've gotten out. And if you've come this far, maybe you're willing to come a little further. You remember the name of the town, don't you? I could use a good man to help me get my project on wheels. I'll keep an eye out for you and the chessboard ready. Remember, Red. Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies. I will be hoping that this letter finds you, and finds you well. Your friend, Andy.

The idea of hope is not a new one.  In fact, it's not really an idea at all.  It's a promise.  It's a promise from God that despite the brokenness and desperation we all live in, there is optimism and confidence that God is in control and He has a better plan.  This promise is not empty.  He always comes through.  We are never let down.  The problem is that we hold our own plans above God's.  Our grip on the here and now does not let God move and show us the great things He has for us.  And because we're all self serving and not focused on God's promise, we miss out on the confidence He wants to give us.

Andy Dufresne is a fictional character in Stephen King's short story, "Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption".  His character is more than just an innocent man who is wrongly imprisoned for something he didn't do.  He lives in hope.  The hope that we all are promised by our generous God, but whom we have turned away from because of our distrust in His goodness.  In the end of the movie, Red has found the place that Andy has mentioned while they were in prison together.  That letter is simple, but it's an invitation.  That invitation is for Red to choose.  There's work to be done in paradise.  Andy's paradise.  And he needs a good man to help him.  What I love about this letter is that even though there is work to be done, Andy is getting the chessboard ready.  That's how God is.  There's work to be done.  That invitation is out there for us to choose to into.  But there is also going to be time to relax, have fun, and spend some good one on one time with God.  And the best thing is that hope is a good thing.  And "no good thing ever dies".  Hope will not die because God cannot die.  And if we can hold on to that confidence, we too, will find ourselves in Zihuatanejo.  No matter how long we've been in prison.  No matter how faraway it seems.  Because hope IS a good thing.  "Maybe the best of things."