Hope pulled Bill Durden through 20 hours of treading water.

He could not have done it without hope that at any moment a savior would come.

Sixty-year-old Durden thought he was going out for a relaxing day of deep-sea fishing the morning he set sail alone. He didn’t wear a life vest. He wasn’t expecting trouble when a line snagged on the bottom of the boat, yanking him from his flip-flops into the Gulf of Mexico, twenty-five miles from shore.

Then his boat sped away!

Durden used the survival tactics he’d learned as a Navy pilot to help him stay afloat and stay sane.

Hope pulls us forward. It enables us to take one more step, one more stroke, one more breath. It literally gives us strength. Our faith calls us to serve, share, listen, and help those around us. It is our work of faith and our labor of love to live with God’s eyes and Jesus’ hands.

At times it feels like we’re treading in water. We’re tired. We see no end in sight. But we aren’t alone.

We have a great hope. Hope that God is near, that He can dive in and rescue us at any time. Hope that someday dangerous waters will be a distant memory and we will walk forever upon a beautiful shore.