Finding Hope Again After Lost Dreams: Lessons from Emmaus

The post opens with the story of Sean Swarner, who survived Hodgkin’s disease as a teenager, then a rare chest cancer, and later a long coma with only one working lung. He made a vow in a hospital room to compete in an Ironman, and went on to climb Mount Everest and later compete in the Ironman world championship. The author uses his example to show that hope can return after great loss, and that a person can dream a new dream when the old one has died.

From there, the author turns to Luke 24, where two disciples leave Jerusalem on the road to Emmaus after the crucifixion, disappointed that things did not go as they had hoped. The author suggests that Christians can do something similar when life does not match their expectations: they may not physically leave, but they can withdraw inwardly, put up walls, and grow bitter. He describes his own experience of unmet ministry dreams and reflects that Jesus often meets people in that confusion, asking them to explain what they feel and then opening the Scriptures to them.

The author also shares, in a personal and candid way, a long list of painful experiences from his own life and says that God, though not the author of those hardships, was present in them and can turn wounds into a source of healing for others. He notes that the disciples’ hearts shifted when Jesus broke bread with them, and that their burning hearts were a sign of renewed hope and love. Near the end, he invites readers to name their own lost dreams, to release the old picture they had in mind, and to pray with the image of setting that dream adrift on God’s river, trusting that God may place something new in its place.

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