It is a disquieting thought, said Charles Dickens, to do anything for the last time. I love the story from Fred Smith’s book, You and Your Network. He writes, “A young preacher in his first pastorate in a small northern mill town was talking for his first time with the mill owner, who said, ‘Young man, you have not seen me in church and you will not see me until my funeral. I own this town and this mill. It is my pot of gold. When I came here, a young immigrant, I heard that in America there was a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. I found the gold, but, young man, I lost the rainbow.’”
From the time God first showed it to Noah, the rainbow has been the symbol of hope. Whatever you do, don’t lose hope. Remember that even if you have lost faith in God, he has not lost faith in you. And even if you don’t believe in him, God still believes in you. Hope, real hope, is found not at the end of the rainbow but at the foot of the cross.