“This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls. It leads us through the curtain into God’s inner sanctuary.”  ~ Hebrews 6:19 (NLT)

I am thinking of a word with only four, small, insignificant letters.  Letters, which seem glued together to form a word that some how allows people to endure many of life’s greatest challenges.

A simple, yet profound word… Hope!   

How many of us have needed at one time or another to hang on to this word, like holding on to a helium balloon, as if to allow it to lift us out of a season of utter despair!

Whether it be a broken promise, divorce, the death of a loved one, a bully, depression, confusion, violence, misery, doubt, loneliness, questioning, illness, betrayal, disasters, poverty, starvation, abandonment and the list goes on…

One thing is for certain, without hope, without the confident trust things will get better; we could drown in the misery of despair.

Without hope, we sink as if to have our ankles shackled in the powerful suction of quick sand.

Despair invades our world like a storm that rolls in suddenly, shadowing our lives under dark ominous clouds, which appear to be thundering in violent strength.

When a storm of this magnitude hits our life region, we shake!  Our foundation shifts beneath us, causing us to wobble in disequilibrium.  We falter in uncertainty and scramble as we try desperately to erase our confused understanding.   Left unsheltered and vulnerable.  The showering of some storms of life, leave many drenched in despair!

“Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” Hebrews 11:1 (NIV)

Hope seems to pull back our eyelids to see beyond the dreary.  Sight for even the slightest moments can propel us further on the road of endurance.  Step by step plodding along, feeble yet confident… Hanging on to Hope!

Hoping the future will surpass in delight the temporary pain that has latched on like a leach sucking every bit of strength and stamina needed to lift one foot in front of the other in order to reach the future.

I recently witnessed the benefits of this ministry of hope.

It wasn’t opened on the hinges of a miracle.  Nor was it delivered through a well-prepared teaching.  It wasn’t presented by some amazing performance either.  Rather, it came by way of a simple act of hospitality.

Inviting a broken and wounded sole into our home.  Enjoying an ordinary dinner, granting him the opportunity to take a walk with his boys, alone in the dark secluded desert.

Headlamps strapped on their heads so they can spot the shinny eyes of the wolf spider as their lamplights created a reflection to take place, which caused the night desert to glow like millions of stars on the ground.  Most precious, I assume… Was to walk alone together without the supervising eyes of others focused upon them.  The privilege for them to just be a dad and two sons with freedom to communicate in a style and liking of their own.

Upon their return we together sat, lounged on the couch to witness an event that will likely be penned in the history books.  November 7th, 2013, Reverend Billy Graham gave his last evangelical crusade in our living room and in the living room of millions of viewers across this country.

We sat with eyes fixed on the TV.  Mesmerized by His message of Hope!

This dad snuggled in contentment with his two young boys in our living room along with Troy and Myself.   After it ended, we talked about how inspiring Billy Graham’s faithful life was to the Call of God and to the message of the Gospel of Hope.

It spurred conversation in a personal way…   Eventually we landed at a most memorable moment of silence!

The moment lingered like stale air as we watched this dad become lost in deep contemplative thinking as he stalled… staring at his oldest son, who sat slouched as if to express anguish, confusion and despair.

The moment seemed too intimate to interrupt with words.

Even though that moment seemed to pause time and allowed minutes to stretch into longer segments of time. Somehow we sat in comfort in this space of time that may have, in a normal situation, felt awkward without words.

This memory will be burnt permanently in my mind…

A dad sat trying with all his strength to hold back the floodgates of emotions that seemed to be bubbling and brewing inside of him.  Lips began quivering, eyes welt up with tears, eventually leading to gentle, but uncontrolled sobs against his every attempt to hold it together.

We all sat there and cried in silence.  Secret fervent prayers of mine alternated with tears.  Not one word was spoken out loud, but somehow we sensed deep healing, intense grief and volumes of communication inhabited those marvelous ten minutes between a dad and his son.  Regardless to the fact that no biology bonded these two as family, only love and relationship was their glue.

The Spirit of God visited us in that modest moment!

We had no idea going into our ordinary evening that what began with a simple act of hospitality would allow the ministry of hope to so eloquently explode before our eyes! Sharing an evening with a broken and contrite man and a simple demonstration of faith by a man proven to be faithful named Reverend Billy Graham.  Provided a way for great ministry to take place and hope was birth through the walls of anguish!

The shackles of despair released that evening and the balloon of hope inflated to raise confidence and trust that some how, in a way still unknown… Things were going to work out and family restoration may indeed be beginning to sprout!

That night will be a forever reminder not to lose heart in the storms of life, because…

The God of Hope still shows up unannounced! 

Hope unfolds more hope… until all were left holding is the Hand of God when we stand in His glorious presence on our future day of Hope!

“But now, Lord, what do I look for?  My hope is in you.”  ~  Psalm 39:7 (NIV)  

Why am I discouraged?  Why is my heart so sad?  I will put my hope in God!  I will praise him again— my Savior and my God!  Psalm 43:5 (NLT)