{"id":1580,"date":"2015-09-17T14:16:14","date_gmt":"2015-09-17T18:16:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.paracletepress.com\/index.php\/a-very-present-help\/"},"modified":"2015-09-17T14:16:14","modified_gmt":"2015-09-17T18:16:14","slug":"a-very-present-help","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.paracletepress.com\/index.php\/a-very-present-help\/","title":{"rendered":"A Very Present Help"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I have distinct memories of the morning, some forty-six years ago, when my father died. Every facet of that life-changing day is carved in heart and memory, and I expect always will be. Our family gathered in the waiting area outside intensive care, anxiously awaiting word. When the doctor arrived, my mother asked, &#8220;Is there any hope&#8221;? His kind (and wise) reply was, &#8220;We hope he&#8217;ll live forever.&#8221; For me, it was a moment of decision&#8211;insist on what was, or move forward with graceful acceptance. I give this as an example of the difference between hope and Hope: that is, the <i>I want<\/i> versus what God&#8217;s mercy ordains.<\/p>\n<p>When viewed through the prism of hope, life is a shifting pattern of beautiful colors and images. Big picture Hope. The kind I can&#8217;t distort or negatively impact. It moves silently ahead, checking dark corners and clearing a path. You can lose your way, lose perspective, lose your wallet \u2014 lose any number of things \u2014 but my advice? Never lose Hope.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.communityofjesus.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/11061961_1084640838237955_2141137643353477803_n.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-5624906 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.communityofjesus.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/11061961_1084640838237955_2141137643353477803_n-e1442513747557.jpg\" alt=\"Rainbow\" width=\"703\" height=\"604\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Follow us<\/strong><br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/communityofjesus.org\">https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/communityofjesus.org<\/a><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~r\/TheCommunityOfJesus\/~4\/mn6uFVxVOkw\" height=\"1\" width=\"1\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I have distinct memories of the morning, some forty-six years ago, when my father died. Every facet of that life-changing day is carved in heart and memory, and I expect always will be. Our family gathered in the waiting area &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.paracletepress.com\/index.php\/a-very-present-help\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"1","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1580","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-paraclete-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.paracletepress.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1580","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.paracletepress.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.paracletepress.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.paracletepress.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.paracletepress.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1580"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.paracletepress.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1580\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.paracletepress.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1580"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.paracletepress.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1580"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.paracletepress.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1580"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}