Battle the undertow

God's message of hope trumps a world of despair

Brian Koldyk
FPW Group Publisher
bkoldyk@christianweek.org

It's here. The dull, draining despair that was most often felt and viewed from afar has arrived in full force. As Canadians continue to reel from the effects of 9-11, SARS, West Nile, Mad Cow, drought, fires and mass power outages, not to mention the continuing turmoil over what some call the redefining of marriage, reality is now on our front step.

War, pestilence, climate swings and wavering legal and political systems are not new; they occur throughout history. Perhaps it's just me, but I always thought these events took place on another front. Not here. Not in our home and native land. Problems like this are supposed to happen on another shore to be watched on CNN.

The uncertainty is here and it is piercing the hearts of those that stand next to us on the bus, work with us at the office or worship with us in church. I wonder, are these events meant to inform us or to prepare us for something to come?

While we consider the many questions, most without answers, it appears that all we know for sure is God's foremost promise of eternal salvation. In this alone we can find comfort and peace. Perhaps this is what we need to focus on and to share with the one standing next to us.  

As a publisher, I feel it is our goal to extend the story of God's grace and promise of salvation to our readers—to tell the story of Canadian Christians who are working to further Christ's message in a hurting world. They do not have an easy task as they swim against the undertow that continues to draw them down.

But they bring a message of hope, the same message we want to present in our pages as we join the ranks of those who battle the undertow. It is their stories that we are committed to bring to you, and in doing so, perhaps inspire others to do the same.

"Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places" (Ephesians 6:12).