"Bangarang!" The conquest of the Hook.

I found myself thinking the other day, "Wouldn't it be great if a few more of our current scenarios with Christi had periods on the end of them instead of question marks?"
There are so many questions! "When will she be able to walk/talk/sit-up again?" "Can she see me?" "Will she be able to do any of those things eventually?" "Will we ever know what caused her to stop breathing?" "Is (whatever it was) still a lurking danger?" "When she cries, wretches, or moans where is it she hurts and what should we do to relieve her pain?" "And what of my other 4 children whose lives have been necessarily altered as well?"   And on and on... It made me wonder if these type of questions are going to be around for quite a while or if there is some other punctuation to expect in the near future.  What's the difference between a question mark and a period anyway?
Then I had an apostrophe.  Lightning had just struck my brain.  The difference is a hook. 
Just a regular hook, like the one Peter Pan's enemy wore instead of a hand. Hand, hand, hand...  Isn't that what they called the other crew members on the ship in those days?  The ones that did all the work - You know, "All hands on deck!"?!  James Hook had a hook for a hand. He was literally holding a constant question mark.  Not only did it consume him - it was in his name, in his most defining memory, and his life's quest was avenging it - but it replaced his hand, a long time symbol for both action and camaraderie. Ironically, or maybe not, he lacks in both categories.  Is there a message buried in this story that I hadn't recognized before?? Constant questions can be paralyzing, and they can also strain relationships. I've always been a big Robin Williams fan, and his role in the movie "Hook" was one of my very favorites.  His recent and tragic passing has surely reignited some old memories - but this was even more!
Captain James Hook was very skilled at his vengeful craft. In fact, the only thing that separated his abilities from that of his younger nemesis was... the ability to fly.  Peter could fly, and so he escaped death at the hands of his angry foe again and again. What was it then that gave Peter this decided advantage?  Well, it was two fold: first, a person must be sprinkled by fairy dust, and then it must be activated by happy thoughts in order for them to take flight.  Interesting things these little fairies.  They are pretty fragile creatures.  Their very lives are dependent upon belief, upon faith.  They could then be seen as the incarnation of faith in a way.
What of happy thoughts though?  When Peter Banning finally finds the thought that allows him to take flight in that epic film, it is of family.  His children are the captives of the Hook at the time, but his happy thought becomes a powerful hope for their reunification.
So with a sprinkling of faith and a lively hope, Peter is carried on unseen wings to victory over the living question mark that would rob him of that which he values most - his family.
And now its my turn. We have been given great promises to trust in.  Each one ends in a period.  His grace has been sufficient for the challenges of each and every day.  And so it is, second star to the right, and straight on til morning.  "But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary, and shall walk, and not faint." (Isaiah 40:31)
And so we'll fly and fly and neverland :)