Intro to UPG Scripture portions

Draft1

Life is good, but life is hard. There are people we love, and people who love us. Yet, the people we care about are too often the people who hurt us and are hurt by us. We want to do good, and to have good done to us, but things don't work out like we wish they would. We look for answers, and sometimes we get some answers. Too often, the answers we get are not satisfying. We hear stories of demons, and gods, and promises and threats, but we get confused. Most people don't know what to believe, and so they wait to see what everyone else is doing and they try to blend it.

 
 

This booklet is an effort to reach beyond some of the frustrations of life and to find hope. Hope is the confidence that life has good to offer and that it is not without meaning. In this booklet you will find a several different things: explanations, songs and holy writings. Explanations are what people who have found this hope have come to understand and have written recently to try and help other people understand. It is the same with the songs you will find. They are written or translated by Dai people who have found the hope and are glad for it. Lastly, and most importantly, you will find holy writings. These writings are from the Hope, to people in ages past.

 

Draft 2

This little booklet is about hope. Why would you want a book about hope? Because life keeps promising to make you joyful, and yet it is so elusive. You need hope, you want answers. This book is a collection of 3 things: explanations, songs and scripture.

 
 

The explanations are from regular people like you who have studied the things of hope and try to explain what they are learning. They are not perfect writings, they are like letters from a friend. They can be very helpful to understand why we should have hope and how we can help others to grow in hope.

 
 

As people grow in hope, there is a joy that is best expressed in song. The songs in this booklet are written or translated by Dai people with hope. These are ways of declaring the hope we are growing in; declaring the hope to the people around us, the spirits we don't see, and even reminding ourselves about the hope we need.

 
 

Lastly, but most importantly, we have scriptures translated into Dai. The scriptures are from the hope and about the hope. The hope is the God who made us loves us and wants to bring us to himself. The desires in our hearts for goodness can be satisfied when we get back to the one who made our hearts.

 
 

As you study this book you are invited to enter into the hope. The God who made you is calling you to trust him. He wants you to trust that he is there for you and that he will take care of those who really want to trust him. He knows what things have been done to separate you and him. He has seen what should have been and what should not have been, and he has done something very special. The hope has come into the world as a man and lived faithfully, like we all wish we would live. But he did not keep his faithfulness for himself, he decided to do something special. This man took our unfaithfulness, all the things we wish we had never said or done, and he died with those things on his soul. He did this so that the wrong in the world would die, and that the good in the world would live. We know that good does live and will live because the man of hope came back from the dead without the wrong. He came back with life, and love and light. Now he has gone to prepare a time and a place to be with people who trust in him as the hope for life. You should be one of those. By calling out to him from your heart you can let him know that you want his good and not the wrong that is in the world, and sadly, has even been in your own heart. He will hear you and care for you, and will help you to live in hope.