There is a series on ESPN called Man in the Arena. Basically, it is nine episodes interviewing Tom Brady about his personal life and football career. I admit that I am a Tom Brady fan. I began watching him when he was playing at Michigan. And I have admired his NFL career. But that is not what I took from watching the series. Something else caught my attention. He told a story that I thought was powerful.
There was a Chinese farmer who had a horse that ran away. All the village people came to him and said they were sorry about that. He responded, “Maybe.” The next day, the horse returned and with him he had nine other horses. All the village people came to him and said he must be happy about that. He lost a horse and ended up with several. He responded, “Maybe.” His son and him began breaking the wild horses. Unfortunately, his son broke his leg after being bucked off. All the village people came to him and said they were sorry about his son breaking his leg. He responded, “Maybe.” The next day war broke out. The Army came to his house to check on his son serving. He did not have to go because of his leg. All of the village people came to him and said he must be thankful. It must be a blessing. He responded, “Maybe.”
The point of the story was that we don’t know what the future holds. We don’t know if what we are going through right now if it’s going to end up being good or bad. There’s no way of knowing until the future happens. But, it made me think of this. As believers, we do know what the future holds. As followers of Christ, we do know what the future holds. As followers of our Lord and Savior, we do know what the future holds. We know that eternity in heaven awaits us. That is a promise. That is a fact. We know without a doubt that our Lord and Savior is waiting for us. He has prepared a place for us. He paved the way for us. And that is an awesome feeling. A calming feeling. A feeling of hope. There is a peace to it. Our Lord and Savior provides this for us. He provides us a future of hope. There is no “Maybe” about it. As followers of Christ, our futures our set. Because God loves us. He always has. He always will.
