Hebrews11:1 Now faith is being sure of what we hope for, being convinced of what we do not see.
There is hope, and then there is HOPE! I like to practice the simple hope a lot--you know, hoping that traffic will be better tomorrow, hoping my gray roots don't show too bad, hoping my candidate wins the election, hoping that someday I can buy Dr. Pepper in Bangladesh! It's the other HOPE that pushes me, though, and moves me to lean on God because He is Hope. If you've been around the Home of Hope (HOH), The Campus or anyone connected with our partner ministries, you've probably heard the saying coined years ago: "Start small, hope big". At that time, it seemed all we had was hope, God's direction and His supply of a few hundred dollars. Some 25 years ago we couldn't see the bigger picture God was painting. We didn't see that HOH would become a launching pad for kids wanting to go into ministry. We didn't see that one day, almost half our staff would be kids who had grown up in our home. We didn't see how our kids would grow up and want to give back to help the ministry that has helped them. A quote attributed to Greek wisdom says: "Society grows great when old men (and women!) plant trees whose shade or fruit they know they will never enjoy." This year, more seeds of hope were planted as in the past 14 months we've taken in 22 more children. Some of us may not be around to see how God "fertilizes" their lives, but nevertheless, because we have a hope, founded in faith, we trust Him to bring the fruit He desires. So we continue to start small, hope big!
-Sharon Smith