On Suicide, Bridges, and Hope:

Romans 15:13
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. 

On our way home this weekend, we drove past some interesting signs over the Tappan Zee Bridge.  


"Life is Worth Living"  and "When it seems like there is no hope, there is help".


You see, the Tappan Zee Bridge has been the unfortunate tool by which at least 25 men and women have chosen to take their lives over the past decade.  When the pain and struggle of their lives became seemingly unbearable, they tragically jumped to their deaths. 

Since these deaths, four "LifeLine" phones have been placed on the bridge in an effort to give people hope.  These signs are meant to draw passerby's who may have given up to picking up the phone and talking to someone who cares.

It was sobering to think that the very bridge that we were crossing toward our destination, was the very same bridge that housed these hopeless men and women in the last hours of their lives. It puts things into perspective, doesn't it? 

I know that for me, one thing I came away with that evening is the challenging truth that I need to be the "lifeline" in the lives of the people around me. 

It's so easy to live our lives with blinders on, completely unaware of the pain and struggles of the people around us.  Our culture tends to take a "don't ask, don't tell" mentality to our struggles, and the Christian community has allowed that mentality to seep into our own lives.  But how will we ever know, unless we really take the time to find out....to show some concern...and to allow our self-absorbed self to take a moment off in order to look into the eyes of another.


The truth is, every action and every word that we communicate to the world around us is an opportunity to offer some sort of hope and healing.  A hope that loves us despite of our weaknesses, a hope that has never seen a problem to great, a pain too deep, or a mess too big.  A hope that doesn't know the meaning of impossible, nor does it have room for the shame of our past.  A hope that is founded in the love of God the Father through the life of Jesus Christ.

According to Romans 15:13, we should be so filled with this hope that it is overflowing from our lives...

Overflowing.  Out of our own life, and spilling into the lives of others.

Are you filled with that kind of hope?  Have you ever allowed that level of Hope to infiltrate your life?

May God fill our brokenness with Hope, a hope that is true, a hope that is real, a hope that is pouring out and overflowing into the lives of those around us.  

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