Hope and Despair

Kefa Sempangi (whose story is told in the book A Distant Grief), was a national pastor in Africa and barely escaped with his family from brutal oppression and terror in his home country of Uganda. They made their way to Philadelphia, where a group of Christians began caring for them. One day his wife said, "Tomorrow I am going to go and buy some clothes for the children," and immediately she and her husband broke into tears. Because of the constant threat of death under which they had so long lived, that was the first time in many years they had dared even speak the word tomorrow.

Their terrifying experiences forced them to realize what is true of every person: There is no assurance of tomorrow. The only time we can be sure of having is what we have at the moment. To the self-satisfied farmer who had grandiose plans to build bigger and better barns to store his crops, the Lord said, "You fool! This very night your soul is required of you" (Luke 12:20). He had already lived his last tomorrow.