Without Faith, Suffering won't turn to Hope

Before the Riverside retreat, this is how I often felt Two weeks ago, I went on a 4 days retreat with Muc Su Thach and a couple of friends to Riverside and refuged ourselves away from the storm rains. For a few days, we were immersed ourselves in the depth of the Word and enjoyed the 1st letter of Peter. It was wonderful to step a way from all the busyness, from the down pour rains, and to take it slow through the magnificent Word. And in that unhurried meditation, the Spirit of God started working on my soul, started removing the haunting nightmare burried deepdown in my human psyche. One of the major themes of 1st Peter is about suffering of the mundane life and the faith to sustain us through all of that. The last day of the retreat, I came across these words: "do not fear their intimidation, and do not be troubled" You see, I have always see myself as the captain of the walker-robot fleet in Matrix Reloaded. In desperation, he pulled everything he got in the last stance against the invincible sentinels approaching. In the same way, I often felt like fighting a suicidal battle to keep my faith and the next generation's faith suviving the onslaught of the secular world. Here Peter wrote, in the middle of the intense suffering and persecution of his day: "do not fear their intimidation, and do not be troubled" And Paul wrote about the hope that he had, on the same circumstance:

Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us. [Romans 5:1-5]

Back at the retreat, after meditating 1st Peter slowly; I started realizing that suffering happened to everyone. But when the people-of-faith went through suffering; it's the faith that would turn desperation into hope. It is the faith in God that help them to endure what they've been through. It is the faith that effected their attitude during endurance and produce character. And once chracters were forged in faith, hope will emerged. I also daydreamed when I was listening to the rain and was meditating on the Word that weekend. (Or perhaps I should spiritualize it and said that, "I had a vision"). In my dream, I saw another desperation. This time from Simba, who was cornered by his enemies. In desperation, he pulled everything he got in the last stance against the invincible hyhenas approaching. He tried his hardest to roar. Surprisingly the roar was powerful and sending shock and awe through his enemies. And as the camera zoomed out, you can see the source of victory, the Lion King was standing right behind his son. Desperation in itself wasn't bad. People like me got desperate because we thought it's up to us to fight the battle. And it is true. Jesus intentionally left so that it is up to us to complete His work. But when everything is said and done, there is absolutely nothing can be invincible besides the Invincible One. And the faith in Him will be what turn desperation into hope. After that retreat, this is how I have been feeling