A4: A Message of Hope in These Trying Times

This week I am writing about something different. This will be harder topic, I do apologize, but I have a feel this must be written. You are the strong, the brave, the few, and I know you can bear such a message.

As the days get shorter and the air gets colder, I have begun to notice something that makes me quite sad. While walking the streets, I see the eyes of many with the soul of life gone, as empty husks of corn wilting away in the field, all sense of humanity stripped to mere robotic steps. We have become infected with a wicked plague, that disease of despair, concealed with temporary pleasures which can never quite fill the void. Not just our school, but the nation as a whole has its fire burning out.

And not without good reason, for with our morals decaying, crime on the rise, the debt continuing to grow, families breaking apart, all around us the world seems dim. Even our own lives seem crowded, noisy, and everyday being just mere motions without any path in sight. This seemingly unrelenting, unending march looks to be the end of our country, and all is already lost. However, I ask you, I beg you, do not give in, do not follow that path. Have hope.

While all seems to crashing down, we must not give in to despair. We are Christians, and so we have been called to a higher standard. When all other lights have gone out and the darkness swells around us, we must stand firm. Christianity is not an easy religion and the demands it makes are steep. Much easier it would be to join the crowd and give in to the temptations of life.

But there is that voice calling, telling you No. “Pick up that cross, and bear”. We have never been promised an easy life, a safe life, a life without hardship, struggle, or pain. These are inescapable. All Christ has promised us is a life equal to His which means pain, persecution, and even death. We must be tested to see whether our faith rests on rock or mere sand. “He that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.” - Matthew 24:13.

Christianity is not a religion for the weak, but a religion for lions. While all other people drift away, we must not break. We must have hope, for no story is finished, no tale is too far gone, no enemy too mighty that the Lord God in an instant cannot change. While unknown at times why we suffer, we must trust in our Lord.

This country is at a tipping point. The bonds which bind us are slipping apart and if nothing is done they shall whither away and collapse. A mighty weight has been placed on our shoulders The old guard is dying, and we are the future of this nation. Our generation will decide whether this country will rise to mighty heights or plumet down to the depths of Sheol. This is a grave responsibility, and the question is are we worthy of it?

I know deep down, in your very bones, faint if not hidden there beats a breathe that calls for something more in life. That looks at this age and dreams a greater one that is full and beautiful. Those days of a bygone era, which while may not visible to the eye, can be felt in the very sinews of the flesh. For are we mere beasts of burden and pleasure? Nay I say, we are man. We are drawn to a higher calling, a higher purpose in life: one of honor, of duty, of responsibility…to rise above the mere pain and pleasure of this world and instead wrestle with the true and the untrue, the just and the unjust, and even very evil itself. I know within your walls, there is that calling, an ember that waits, that hungers, that wishes to be known. It waits for a spark to light its kindling.

That time is now, we cannot wait. It is time to rise, and to embrace your heritage being an American, a Christian for you come from a mighty past…of settlers who took a chance crossing the vast Atlantic, arriving not in peaceful lands, but needing to fend off the elements, disease, and ferocious savages. We are people established on the great principles of Christianity and the beacon of Western civilization which descends back to that of Greece and Rome, of Charles Martel the Hammer, of Charlemagne.

Your history is of daring colonists driving off the greatest empire ever known to man, where the sun never set in those vast lands. Our forefathers are those who braved that shining sea, clashing swords and canon with the pirates of Tripoli.

We are a people who expanded West bringing civilization to the most inhospitable terrain, riding mighty stallions to the south and sallying forth to Montezuma’s domain. We risked it all to walk the Oregon trail, to start a new life or to strike rich with a pan and pail. You are brave people, a noble people, a glorious people. You are ready to answer the calling of that mighty past.

Rise up out of the muck of this age, dust yourself off and hold your head high, for you are a warrior of this nation and of the Lord. In these troubled times, He is in need of mighty men! Who will rise up like David and face Goliath of the Philistines, when all others cower?

Your life matters, what you do matters, you are important, you are necessary. Look around, this country needs you, your people need you, the Lord God needs you. You do not have the right to throw your life away.

No matter what has happened before, your life is not over, it is not too late to rewrite its ending. However such claims demand a statement, a stance, a declaration to the world on what your future will be. From this point onwards, I will not longer be afraid, but follow the path of righteousness wherever it may lead. It does not matter how many times we fall, as long as we get back up. “For though a righteous man fall seven times, he rises again.” Proverbs 24:16

Maybe this nation fails, maybe it is the end of our lives, maybe the destruction and desolation we see around us is here to stay, but then I ask you, how do you wish to die? Hiding away in fear, and always wondering what could have been. To look upon that flag with shame knowing you are unworthy of its name. NAY, if this be our end I say, then let it be glorious end! Let us make a stamp on this world, however long we are left to live, for what we do now shall echo for all of eternity!

There is no battle to far gone, no decision already made that cannot be in an instant reversed by our Lord God. Do not be afraid. No longer must we hide as Christians, no longer must cower away fear. It is time to take a stand, to be strong, to be proud, and show our forefathers that we are deserving of that great title: American.

Your humble servant, Francisco Pereira