“At the end of the day, the gospel is a story that hits to the heart of what everyone’s longing for in this broken life: a second chance, a spring after the winter, redemption, and resurrection.” – Rob Bell
Many years ago, I told the story of my friend, Lori. We grew up next door to each other and became the best of friends. When we were older, we had a disagreement that led to years of not speaking or seeing each other. I had lost my best friend. One day I came across an obituary that I feared to be Lori’s. My heart was broken. It took me days to have the courage to call her mom to find out if she truly had died. The obituary was not hers. I then had to try to find the courage to call her. When I did, we cried. We had lost so much time. We had missed each other’s weddings. We had missed the birth of our first child, we had missed so many moments. Yet, we had been given a second chance.
In 2017, when I was diagnosed with cancer, the following days and weeks were filled with thoughts of death, regrets, and mistakes. But through the kindness of friends and family, sitting with me through appointments, bringing me food and comforting gifts, helping with medications, making me laugh when I didn’t feel like it inside, loving me in ways I can’t even describe, the light and brightness of spring faded the dark, cold winter-like realities of cancer.
Forgiveness, love, compassion, hope, joy, friendship. This is life. This is eternal life. Not a life in order for a future beyond life, but for a quality of life now.
These are the ways of Jesus. When we choose to follow the life of Jesus, filled with forgiveness, love, compassion, hope, joy, friendship; we bring heaven to those around us. We become someone’s second chance, someone’s spring, someone’s redemption, and someone’s resurrection from a life of hopelessness and despair.
Julie Robinson, Executive Director of Studio 222
