Dial Hope has a birthday coming up. This September 10th, we turn 20 years old! For almost 20 years we’ve been sharing daily messages and sending out ripples of hope!

As we prepare for this celebration, we’d like to ask something of you – a birthday gift if you will. We’d love to know and / or see where it is that you have seen hope. In light of all that is going on in the world around us; the uncertainty, the worry, the fear, the divisiveness, we all need reminders of God’s hand at work in the world. We all need glimpses of grace and sparks of hope.

To that end, we are launching a Facebook campaign tilted, “Why I Have Hope.” To join in, please email us a picture – possibly with a short caption depicting your glimpse of hope. We will in turn post these pictures on our website and Facebook. It is our hope, that as a whole this collection will lift spirits and inspire. They will be our gift to each other and to the world around us. Email us at: info@dialhope.org

The Apostle Peter once wrote, “Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting of the hope that is within you; yet do it with gentleness and reverence.”

I wonder what hope you have within you… I wonder when and how God has touched your life… I wonder what you’ve seen or experienced… I can’t wait to find out!

Let us pray: Gracious God, I thank you for 20 years of Dial Hope, for your servant Roger Kunkel who had the vision, and for the opportunity to share in this ministry. We know this world is desperate for good news and signs of hope. May each of us, in our own lives, find ways to share what we have seen, heard, and experienced of you. In Christ name. Amen.

There’s a story about some older men who gathered to celebrate the 50th anniversary of their college graduation. Naturally, all of them had changed in appearance over the years – they were grayer, balder, more wrinkled, and so on. But instead of providing name tags, the master of ceremonies decided that it would be more fun to have each man stand up in turn and have the others try to identify him using as a guide the picture from their college yearbook.

As they proceeded, they were able to identify all but one man. Nothing in his present appearance gave him away. Finally, the man said, “All right! I can see that you all don’t recognize me. Wait just a minute and I’ll give you a clue.” With that, he stepped out of the room and then came back with a good-looking young man by his side. “This,” he said, “is my son. Now, do you know who I am?” Almost immediately several men called out his name. The appearance of the son, who resembled his father, allowed the other men to identity him.

In the Christian faith, we believe that Jesus gives us the clearest picture of what God looks like. When we read about Jesus in the gospels, we see his compassion and forgiveness, we hear his challenge to live differently, and we feel his sacrificial love.

In his Gospel, John tells us, “No one has ever seen God, only the Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known.”

Let us pray: We praise you, O God, for you are a compassionate, forgiving, and loving God. We thank you for your Son Jesus who shows us your heart. Today, I pray for those who need to know your loving presence. Be near to them. Surround them with your grace – even now. Amen.

I once heard about a school system in a large city that had a program to help children keep up with their work during stays in the hospital. One day a teacher helping with the program received a call asking her to visit a young boy. She went to see the boy that afternoon, but no one had mentioned to her that he had been badly burned and was in great pain. Upset at the sight of the boy, she stammered as she told him, “I’ve been sent to help you with nouns and adverbs.” She left feeling as though she hadn’t helped at all.

The next day, a nurse approached the teacher and asked, “What did you say to that boy?” The teacher thought she must have done something wrong and began to apologize. “Oh no,” said the nurse, “That’s not what I mean. We’ve been so worried about him. But ever since your visit yesterday, his whole attitude has changed. He’s fighting and responding to treatment. It’s as though he’s decided to live.”

Later, after the boy recovered, he explained that he had completely given up hope until the teacher showed up. He said, “They wouldn’t send a teacher to work on nouns and adverbs with a dying boy, would they?”

G.K. Chesterton once wrote, “Hope means hoping when things are hopeless, or it is no virtue at all… As long as matters are really hopeful, hope is mere flattery or platitude; it is only when everything is hopeless that hope begins to be a strength.”

Let us pray: In the darkest moments of the night, it is hard to believe there is a way forward. When we can’t see a path, when we can’t see a future, when we can’t see your gifts along the way, that is when we need you most. I pray today for those who feel they are in that place, O God. I ask for them an overwhelming measure of hope, a desire to overcome, a willingness to ask for help, and strength and courage that is beyond them. I entrust them to your care. Rest your Spirit on them and on each of us. Fill us with your peace. Amen.

“Today’s message was written by my friend, Rev. Roger Kunkel, founder of Dial Hope.” -Joe

It was Betty Talmadge who said, “Life is what happens to you when you’re making other plans.” Serendipitous things happen if we are willing to let them. Our plans must be adjustable to allow life to do what it will with us. We collect seashells with our children but fall in love with the hobby ourselves. We search for a particular painting but come upon a gorgeous piece of furniture instead. We take an elective course as a filler and end up pursuing the field professionally. After the death of a Rabbi, one of his disciples was asked, “What was most important for your teacher?” The disciple thought for a moment and replied, “Whatever he happened to be doing at the moment.”

Friend of Dial Hope, no matter where you are – driving in a car, the sanctity of your home, vacationing, a hospital bed, at your place of work – live fully this day, which is an unrepeatable miracle. Be open to surprises. Be playful. Focus on the constant sacrament of the little moments.

Let us pray: O God of all precious things, including animals and the majesty of your creation, who hears our pain even when fears block our words, create in us a heart of laughter and hope. May your spirit of comfort still the anxiety of those who live with enormous pressure and stress; may it fill the emptiness of lost and lonely lives. Weave your love, joy, and gratitude into the tapestry of our moments this day. Thank you, God. Amen.