Hope Well Placed
Reading: Romans 15, 16 The book of Proverbs says that: “ Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life ” (13:12. NIV). Last night, Sidney Crosby returned to captain the Pittsburgh Penguins hockey team after almost a year’s absence due to a concussion. I suspect he might have known something about “ hope deferred ” as the doctors and coaching staff held him off from playing in order to be sure that he was fully recovered. Watching his teammates play the game that is his life while he sat on the sidelines must have been a difficult experience. As I watched Crosby as the singing of the national anthem came to an end prior to the game, I saw him cross himself. Whether or not it has been his habit to stand with his head bowed and then to cross himself before every game, I don’t know, but every eye in the hockey world was on him last night. Was he grateful to God for that “ longing fulfilled ?” After a while a hope unrealized becomes an incredibly h...