Surviving The Flames

 Two weeks ago, a fire swept through the 850-year-old Notre Dame cathedral as the world watched in horror. Centuries of history that took nearly 200 years to build, wiped out in the span of a few hours. Life can wipe out dreams that took years to erect in a matter of minutes. And sometimes, all we can do is stand by and watch them fall. 

I watch a video of some by-standers seemingly frozen in the Paris streets, singing a hymn of mourning as the flames gut one of the most recognized and beautiful structures in the world. To these people though, it was a local fixture. It was part of what they know as home. Perhaps some were even planning to attend Easter services there the following Sunday. And now, the place is nothing but a memory. The handiwork of countless unknown craftsman who are long dead but whose memory lived on in this glorious building - gone. 

And it strikes me that this is once more a reminder that all things built here are destined to die and fade at some point. All dreams can't live forever. Because one day all this will be gone anyway. But how we face the moments when our dreams die sooner than expected, when hopes are dashed unplanned - how we handle those moments proves where our belief lies. Is our future built here, or in an eternal outcome? 

Flames can wipe out a church, but they cannot destroy hope. Physical things can be broken and destroyed, but the Grace-driven spirit can still go on believing. Because He has promised that even the gates of hell itself cannot win against His Church and His power to redeem. We stand by grace when everything around us falls because our Savior is holding all of us up. 

This religious structure that had become such a point of tourist attraction and interest had withstood the worst the world had seen. It had survived close to a thousand years of weather, wars, and everything thinkable but an unexpected accident was its demise. And don't we often find the same is true of us? We survive the big stuff but it's often an un-anticipated soul-shock that proves our un-doing. We weather the storms that would seemingly be our certain end but we are wrecked by something that we would've never dreamt could happen. And all that's left of our hearts is an empty skeleton of what once stood. And our dreams lie in a heap. And we have no idea where to start over. Or even if we have the faith to start over at all. 

As we gaze into the ashes, what do we tell our broken souls? When we feel like our hearts have no beat and we are numb from the horror we have witnessed, what do we say? When it seems like there are no words and hope to be found, where do we look to find the strength to go on...to make new dreams...to believe again? 

For the Christ-follower, dreams may be shattered but a promise still stands in the midst: I will make all things new. And to this we cling - that our hearts can still choose faith in the face of fear and that no pain is wasted in the Kingdom of God. And the hopes that die only make room for new ones to come alive. 

Choose to believe that you're still-standing is evidence that God has not left. And choose to see that there is no such thing as complete abandonment when you belong to Him. Life can be cruel, and it may wound you deep, but the wounds of the Savior on your behalf prove that resurrection can happen from every broken and dying thing. You may lose much today but if you haven't lost Christ, you haven't really lost anything at all. Because He is all you've got to hold onto, and isn't that enough? 

There is always a chance to start over with Jesus. Your brightest hopes may be burned to dust and your greatest achievements may lie in ruins and all you ever dreamed of may die right in front of your eyes, but the things we call endings often prove to be beginnings with God. And every story worth telling must have its tragedy before it can have its proper redeeming. 

And just now in this wasteland of what you once knew, praise can rise from the heaps and hope can begin again.