Bill Speer

Hope.

This simple four-letter word has dominated my thought patterns in recent weeks.

Often finding myself one of the oldest in any room these days, I believe hope is a desire of mine born from maturity and life’s experiences. I must admit, however, there also is a lot of the unknown sprinkled into this emotion, which always then creates an atmosphere of uncertainty as well.

Take for instance the Iran war we find ourselves embroiled in, Operation Epic Fury. I find myself glued to media reports each day following the action, watching the destruction and praying for the innocents.

I hope for a quick conclusion to this war.

But is that even possible in this corner of the world? I remember the overthrow of the Shah of Iran in 1979, igniting the Iranian Revolution. I also remember 11 months later these new revolutionists taking employees of our embassy hostage, and the fear and humiliation that created in our country.

Over the years all of us have witnessed the terror that geminates in Tehran and spreads like wildfire to the down-trodden and forgotten across that region of the world.

While past generations wrestled with the evil empire of the USSR, after the Berlin Wall came down in 1989 much of the old enemy was dismantled into a shadow of its former self.

Today, Iran and China are the new Darth Vader’s of the world around us.

But let’s get back to hope. Recently, I learned my cousin was innocently caught up in this new theater of war through no fault of his own. Finding himself grounded in Dubai for days on end and with wishes to depart being dashed day after day, I turned to faith, hope and prayer as tools to protect him, and get him back to the U.S. as quickly as possible.

Chris was in India for work, and he and his team were returning home to California when they learned as they were flying over Iran, that war was breaking out across the skies below them. Re-routed, their plane landed in Dubai, where he and his co-workers were stuck for days waiting for a commercial flight out.

As Iran sent several missiles into Dubai during this period unsettling citizens and tourists alike, each day Chris and his crew would try to get a flight out, only to have it cancelled. It wasn’t until five days later that they were able to get out and fly back to San Francisco safely.

In the meantime, a whole army of prayer warriors from Findlay and elsewhere joined with me to keep my cousin and his team protected by prayer and soaked with hope that there would soon be a happy ending.

Which there was.

That isn’t always the case though.

Last week I attended an event where one of the last living Holocaust survivors spoke of her experience, and the need for mankind to learn from that terrible blemish in our world’s history.

The survivor also talked about hope.

She talked of the hope she needed as a young child to face the reality of the circumstances she faced, being forced to live with a non-Jewish family who, risking their own lives, sheltered and protected her.

She talked of the hope that helped her father survive a German concentration camp, even though at one time he wanted to kill himself to escape the hunger and torture he endured day after day.

And finally, she talked of the hope for tomorrow that we all need to embrace if we ever want to try and make the world better. She saw the worst in humanity all those years ago. Hope got her through it and remains her bedrock today.

We again see horrible images and news reports coming out of the Middle East. May we too cling to hope for today and for a better tomorrow.