In last quarter’s issue, we discussed the very idea of hope. As an organization, we aren’t just providing physical needs through mission work but bringing the hope of Jesus Christ to every corner of the Earth. You can see that one of the best ways to deliver hope is through rescue. When you meet someone at their deepest time of need, whether that’s after a disaster, or when they’re hungry or—better yet—when their own children are hungry, you touch a part of them that is so vulnerable, and it opens doorways to share the Gospel.

The world is full of trouble for all mankind, whether Christian or not. It rains on the just and the unjust. What makes the difference for God’s people is hope.

As Christians, one of the evidences that we are true believers in the saving power of Jesus is to minister words and deeds of hope to those who find themselves in distress or hopeless situations. More than 40 years ago, someone literally acted on the lyrics of the hymn quoted above, and his deeds of love rescued my soul from sin, giving me hope for living.

Sunday

We were up early at 4:00 AM to travel to the Dominican Republic. We hadn’t been back since November 2019, although we had been going regularly since 2010. In 2014, my husband Adam and I lived down there for six months.

You mustn’t tell me that God finds it very difficult to love sinners. If you were to prove that, or at least lead me to believe it’s true (by how you treat me when I repeatedly fall, or by what you teach me), you would obliterate any trace of hope in me. I’d immediately weaken and I’d die long before I die.

I hear every day from our culture and sometimes from those in Christ about how terrible the world is and how hopelessness abounds. I know that to the world, the word hope means only a wish or desire, but that is not the biblical definition of hope. Biblically, hope is an anticipation and expectation of something good. It is sure confidence. Hope is held out in the gospel.

Over 50 years ago my dad, Sam Hartline, while on a mission trip to India, met a teenager named Asee. Dad taught and led many to the Lord in India, but there was something about this young man that caused Dad to see a diamond in the rough.

While campaigning for the presidency of the United States in 2008, Barack Obama offered a new vision for America: he promised that he would usher in a new era of hope and change. Donald Trump, not to be outdone, cast a newer version of hope and change when he vowed to “Make America Great Again.” Not to be outdone, Joe Biden won on his pledge to “Build Back Better.”

On August 26th, 2020, Hurricane Laura made landfall in Lake Charles, Louisiana as a Category 4 hurricane with wind speeds of up to 150 miles per hour. Just a little over a month later in early October, Hurricane Delta hit the same area. Many residents were forced to evacuate. When they returned, they came back to homes devastated by the storm.

I have noticed that our culture today quickly criticizes Christians who have a conviction about truth. There is this thought that you cannot be full of compassion and conviction at the same time. Yet, when I look at Jesus and his actions toward others, he was full of compassion and truth.

The American Declaration of Independence that states: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Be an echo, not a voice. People think “Well, I have a voice, so I have to speak. There’s a hole in there and I’ve got to put some words in.” But I don’t want to have a voice—I don’t want you in this moment to listen to me—I don’t want you to hear me. I want you to hear Jesus! I don’t want to be a voice—I want to be an echo.

On August 15, 2021, Afghanistan fell to the Taliban. People all over the world mourned the demise of the freedoms ripped from the Afghan people. Many missionaries in Afghanistan left with just a day’s notice, escaping their impending deaths. Worldwide, people were left heartbroken, and those able to escape were left with guilt that, somehow, they were able to escape, while others were left to endure Taliban rule.

Whether we realize it or not, we have an obsession with stories. This is not necessarily a bad thing—it is how we learn, how we remember, and how we hold on to what is true.

Last issue, we printed several stories from our Indian brothers and sisters revealing the terrible suffering many are facing in their country. Perhaps worse than the virus itself is the chaotic economic instability that is plaguing the entire nation.

In July of 2021, we made a short trip to the Dominican Republic. Our purpose was to learn about new challenges our brethren face—to find out what’s working and what’s not working.