Hope, they say, is the last thing to die.

We cannot live without it for as oxygen is to the body, hope is to the soul. Hope is also a gift like faith or love. Since it is of God, it enables one to find a way to make things right in spite of obstacles. The following story by Dave DeBoer illustrates the power of hope that propelled his Mother never to give up on her eldest son who was lost, but miraculously was found again.

“When some friends in Southern California invited me and my brother, Steve, to visit them, I decided to take that ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ trip. Our mother, a first grade school teacher, threw a spanner in the works when she asked if she could join us. This struck me as extremely odd and irritating, since my father had no interest in our plans and couldn’t bear to be alone without her. Still she badgered me into joining us on our ‘once-in-a-lifetime trip.’ What could I do? She was my Mother! So, off we went driving, reluctantly, the three of us, my mother, my brother, and I for a trip of a lifetime.

“On the final day of our vacation in Southern California, I told my friends that I wanted to venture out on my own to see Los Angeles. ‘I would get there on the city bus and see the sights,’ I said. When Steve was about to drive me to the bus stop, wouldn’t you know that my mother came running toward the car, insisting she join me. I said to her, forcefully, ‘Mother, that’s not a good idea. More than likely we’ll get lost and accidentally end up in some rough part of town.’ We continued to argue, but she would have none of it. There was no changing her mind, I had to concede, and she joined me on the bus ride.

“When we reached the last stop, the bus driver noticed our concern because we were in a run-down part of Los Angeles. ‘You’ll be all right,’ he said. ‘You’re only five minutes from downtown if you keep up a brisk walk.’

“We took no chances and stuck closely together, my mother and I.. We started walking around the block in search of a neighborhood store that might possibly have a restroom. We found a store close by, thank God.

“Upon leaving the store we turned to the right and quite suddenly, we came face to face with the shock of our lives. Before us was a homeless man. His hair was long and dirty. His beard nearly reached his belt. His stained clothes hung loosely on his thin frame. I couldn’t look at him. But I had to. He was my brother, Doug. He was my mother’s first child. Gone was the star high school athlete. Gone was the college graduate. Gone was the Vietnam veteran. He had never recovered from that terrible ordeal. He was now a schizophrenic. His only words to us were: ‘Hi, what are you guys doing here?’

“This unexpected encounter was our first contact with Doug in years. Now I realized why my mother had to come with me and Steve on our ‘trip of a lifetime,’ and why she joined me on the bus that day to Los Angeles. She had a mission; she was impelled by hope and would not let go of it. She accomplished the impossible, or better still, God accomplished the impossible through her.

“When my mother and I left Los Angeles, we both felt, understandably, that we would never see Doug again. Happily that did not prove to be the case. Doug was also renewed by hope and returned a few months later to his native Montana where we lived. I helped him get situated at the Rescue Mission in my town where he now is able to work a few hours each day in the mission’s thrift shop. In short, he has come to have a life of his own that is satisfying and useful.

“Mom and Dad live two hours away from Doug but they visit him every other month or so. About twice a year Doug also boards a bus — not to drop out of sight as he originally had done — but to go back home again and spend a few days with his parents.

“By the grace of God, Doug is at peace with himself in his special world. I now realize that this never would have happened but for the gift of hope that inspired my mother to make that providential trip of a lifetime with me and Steve to visit our friends in Los Angeles.”