Real Hope: ResetSample

What's In Your Suitcase

In August 2020, Giuseppe Paterno graduated university with honours in Philosophy. Accepting his academic credentials from the Chancellor, Giuseppe was given a standing ovation by the socially distanced students and lecturers gathered in the Great Hall. 

Giuseppe is 96.

With his formal education finishing at primary school, Giuseppe survived the Second World War to then work on the railways, marry and raise a family. Enrolling in tertiary study in his 90s, many said Giuseppe was starting his studies a ‘little late in life’. 

As we struggled through lockdowns and border closures, financial uncertainties and perhaps the loss of loved ones, so did Giuseppe. Giuseppe likewise struggled with remote learning pressures. He typed all his assignments on the typewriter he received at his retirement in 1984. At his graduation, Giuseppe remarked, ‘Knowledge is like a suitcase that I carry with me; it is a treasure.’ 

Standing now on the portico of 2021, what’s in your suitcase? The lessons of 2020 weren’t all enjoyable, and sometimes we’re tempted to preserve only life’s joys and catapult everything else over the horizon. Today’s scripture reminds us to read the lifetimes of endurance found in the Bible to bring encouragement. Each testimony is a promise that God is in control and that we have hope.    

Today – fill your suitcase with treasure from God.

written by DWAYNE JEFFRIES