| I leave on my ten-day tuna fishing trip out of San Diego in one month. I am not sure how the trip will turn out, but the anticipation is consuming my thinking right now. I watch an hour of YouTube videos every night of trips like mine. There are a bunch of boats offer fishing trips out of San Diego, ranging from one-day trips to 16-day trips, and they all feature hours of videos advertising their boats and trips. If my experience is a fraction of what I have imagined in my mind, it will be amazing. Anticipation for a future event is the essence of the New Testament word of hope. I eagerly anticipate my entrance into heaven, my glorified body, my first experience with Jesus, and the joy I will feel. My fishing trip doesn’t have a chance of being as good as I imagine it will be, but my experience of eternity will be many times greater than my imagination makes it out to be. The more we imagine and hope for eternity now, the more we will run with endurance the race set before us. We will have more joy now, we will be stronger now as we go through trials, and our faith will be more attractive to those who are lost.

 Hebrews 9:28 Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await Him.

1 Corinthians 1:7, awaiting eagerly the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ,

Romans 8:23-25  we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body. For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.

1 Peter 3:15  but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence;