By Pastor Ryan Stockstrom

Harvest Fellowship Church

My son and I were able to get away on a mountain hunting adventure this past Fall. It was a great time, and although we were unsuccessful in taking game, we came back with many great shared memories.

In our search for elk, we climbed up through thick cover, rocky terrain, and steep inclines. The switchbacks would go one way and then the opposite, never quite giving us a full view of what was ahead.

It hit me as we were walking up a particularly thick and gnarly drainage that if I was able to see to the top from there, and there were no elk along the path or at the top, there’s no way I’d continue to trek forward!

But what kept us going forward and upward was hope. Hope that around the next corner, we’d see something.

It made me consider life and God; that He doesn’t show us the full story of what’s going to happen next. We might know the general direction He is leading us to pursue, but we don’t get to see the top or end of the season of life we are in. Why is that? Well, it could be numerous reasons: if we saw the top, we might not think much of it, and fail to see the benefits of the change that happens to us in the journey of the climb.

Or on the flip side, if we saw the end and it was amazing, we might think it too good to be true for us, and doubt would stop us in our tracks, because, why would I deserve that? We might think it too good to be true.

I think of Joseph and Mary. Had they known the end of the road to Bethlehem and that the Bethlehem child delivery center was actually a stable with animals, or as some believe a simple cave outside the city, they might not have gone. Had they known the treachery of the road or the pain they’d endure on the journey, they maybe would’ve sought a way to avoid the census.

But what they couldn’t see or fully realize was that around the corner was a great host of angels arriving to announce the birth of God’s Son.

They didn’t know God had already been working in the hearts of wise men, bringing valuable gifts to lay at His feet. And they couldn’t yet know how Jesus would forever change history—that countless people would have their relationship re-established with God by trusting in His son. Fast forward 33 years, Mary also didn’t know that around the corner of Jesus’ cross, was a resurrection.

Maybe today you feel hopeless. That you’re too stuck to make it around this corner. Or you feel too broken— that there’s nothing to look forward to. Or the current climb of your life is simply taking too much of a toll.

Please know this Christmas, that the God of heaven sees you, knows you, and loves you. You are not alone. He is still Immanuel, God with us,—God with you. Just hold on; He has good things in store for you.

Reach out to Him. He’s listening. And may Christmas remind you that there is always hope, just around the corner. Merry Christmas.