Wings of Hope - with feathers...

My buddy Ester has been living with cancer for over 8 years now so technically he’s a cancer survivor -- that's him with the pink feathers - and he's not actually headless - he's just ducking under grooming his leg. And yes, Ester is a boy. It used to be Lester, but when he introduces himself he often leaves off the 'L' - so now we just call him Ester.

Now, I'm going to be talking about a bird, but maybe you or someone you know is struggling through tough times. Facing trials of different sorts. An illness. A broken relationship. A terrifying setback. Then you know about pain, sorrow and suffering. Because ultimately, it’s all the same pain. It is common to all of creation.

Ester, a moluccan Cockatoom is 23 years old (his normal lifespan is about 80 years). Because human beings "love" cockatoos, Ester finds himself confined to a cage for his entire life. No one asked him if he wanted to be a pet. He’ll never know what it is to fly freely and be everything that God intended him to be.

But I have high hopes for Ester. Hope has already saved Ester from cancer. When he was scheduled to be killed because his vet bills would over-tax his families resources, someone rescued him and paid for his treatments — because they Hoped. After several weeks of chemo-therapy the vet performed a lumpectomy to reduce the size of Ester’s tumor, (you can see the sore on his backside). And Esther fought through all this and still lives! Today Esther is one of the happiest and friendliest little birds at the Refuge. He shows what can happen because of HOPE. And the dedication of people willing to go where HOPE leads.

Jesus asks us to be compassionate - to suffer with those around us. But to encounter pain and sorrow in the world without being anchored by an unshakeable hope, is folly.

So, hope serves as a tether that guides us safely through a world of suffering towards a better future and prevents us from being over-whelmed by the ‘here and now’. But hope for this life alone is only a foretaste of our ultimate hope. The bible encourages us towards a greater hope for every creature who suffers - a time when suffering will have worked its miracle in us and all creation will be released into a new Era!

Romans 4:18-25 (the Message)
That's why I don't think there's any comparison between the present hard times and the coming good times. The created world itself can hardly wait for what's coming next. Everything in creation is being more or less held back. God reins it in until both creation and all the creatures are ready and can be released at the same moment into the glorious times ahead. Meanwhile, the joyful anticipation deepens.

All around us we observe a pregnant creation. The difficult times of pain throughout the world are simply birth pangs. But it's not only around us; it's within us. The Spirit of God is arousing us within. We're also feeling the birth pangs. These sterile and barren bodies of ours are yearning for full deliverance. That is why waiting does not diminish us, any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother. We are enlarged in the waiting. We, of course, don't see what is enlarging us. But the longer we wait, the larger we become, and the more joyful our expectancy.

Hope fully realized - the return of Jesus Christ, is the ultimate hope that allows me to enter into compassionate ministry and be not swept away by it.

And HOPE is usually all I can hold out to someone in the midst of their trials. A cup of hot chocolate. A shoulder to cry on. A kind word or deed. That’s not much. But often it’s enough and it’s that first step towards salvation.

A salvation that we merely glimpse in each small healing in this life - like Ester’s (This video shows just how well he's healed and how much joy he experiences just being alive!):