Hope - The only lifeline

Discovering A Better Life
P.O Box 1540, Albany Western Australia 6331
Phone/Fax: (08) 98 418 418
E-mail: abl-alb@omninet.net.au

Hope - the only lifeline
FRIENDS, David Aikman holds a PhD in Russian and Chinese history. He worked for 20 years as a respected Journalist for Time Magazine, covering major stories around the world. He's seen great events as they unfolded and witnessed incredible suffering. David recently took some time off to write a book: Hope: The Heart's Great Quest. He surveyed the world religions' teaching about hope and read books on hope by the world's best known philosophers. Finally he surveyed carefully what the Bible teaches about hope. He says: "I had always been entrigued by hope, but in something of a relaxed, almost detached manner. I had no concept of it as the only lifeline that at times can keep a person afloat when floodwaters of trouble and catastrophy seem certain to engulf him or her." "But I learned how shallow my original notions had been when truly fateful circumstances engulfed me over a period of two years." First as David was researching for his book, his marriage broke up. He wrote: "How pathetic can you be? You who have spoken so often of Christ's healing power... here you are adding yourself to the sad statistical saga of marriage breakdown." Next, David saw his two lovely teenage daughters traumatised by the parental break-up. Then the sorrows kept piling on - creating the need to sell the family home. Friends, David's study of hope, begun in curiosity, suddenly became urgent - a life or death matter. The collapse of his life made his search for hope real and urgent. He cried out: "Could the hope that intrigued me as a book subject also be a quality that could bring light into the darkness of my own griefs?" David ends the book with these words: "God's grace reached down and reassembled hope in my own life. He did so, first of all, by entering into the greatest of my catastrophies, the broken-down structure of my marriage... His grace worked in remarkable change in my heart and my wife's. Even our family and closest friends were amazed at what they saw happening in front of them." Happily, David reports that his two daughters "found new conviction in their own lives that the God of hope is truly just that. With conviction came their own dedication..." Friends, David Aikman's candid story demonstrates the restoring power of the love of God. You may want to add his book to your personal library. More important, you may want to talk about your need for hope. I want to remind each of you who are reading this column today that God's power gives new hope to those who are hanging to hope by a thread. So no matter what your personal circumstances might be, your situation is not hopeless - because God gives us hope. And with that thought in mind, I'd like to help you embrace God's restoring hope. Write to me today. I'll personally answer your letter. What's more I will send you a complimentary copy of a pamphlet that can help you find hope. Email me or write to me at P.O Box 1540, Albany W.A 6331. Telephone (08) 98 418 418

Hope - the only lifeline

FRIENDS, David Aikman holds a PhD in Russian and Chinese history. He worked for 20 years as a respected Journalist for Time Magazine, covering major stories around the world.

He's seen great events as they unfolded and witnessed incredible suffering.

David recently took some time off to write a book: Hope: The Heart's Great Quest. He surveyed the world religions' teaching about hope and read books on hope by the world's best known philosophers.

Finally he surveyed carefully what the Bible teaches about hope. He says: "I had always been entrigued by hope, but in something of a relaxed, almost detached manner. I had no concept of it as the only lifeline that at times can keep a person afloat when floodwaters of trouble and catastrophy seem certain to engulf him or her."

"But I learned how shallow my original notions had been when truly fateful circumstances engulfed me over a period of two years."

First as David was researching for his book, his marriage broke up. He wrote: "How pathetic can you be? You who have spoken so often of Christ's healing power... here you are adding yourself to the sad statistical saga of marriage breakdown."

Next, David saw his two lovely teenage daughters traumatised by the parental break-up.

Then the sorrows kept piling on - creating the need to sell the family home.

Friends, David's study of hope, begun in curiosity, suddenly became urgent - a life or death matter.

The collapse of his life made his search for hope real and urgent. He cried out: "Could the hope that intrigued me as a book subject also be a quality that could bring light into the darkness of my own griefs?"

David ends the book with these words: "God's grace reached down and reassembled hope in my own life. He did so, first of all, by entering into the greatest of my catastrophies, the broken-down structure of my marriage... His grace worked in remarkable change in my heart and my wife's. Even our family and closest friends were amazed at what they saw happening in front of them."

Happily, David reports that his two daughters "found new conviction in their own lives that the God of hope is truly just that. With conviction came their own dedication..."

Friends, David Aikman's candid story demonstrates the restoring power of the love of God.

You may want to add his book to your personal library.

More important, you may want to talk about your need for hope. I want to remind each of you who are reading this column today that God's power gives new hope to those who are hanging to hope by a thread. So no matter what your personal circumstances might be, your situation is not hopeless - because God gives us hope.

And with that thought in mind, I'd like to help you embrace God's restoring hope.

Write to me today. I'll personally answer your letter. What's more I will send you a complimentary copy of a pamphlet that can help you find hope.

Email me
or write to me at
P.O Box 1540,
Albany W.A 6331.

Telephone (08) 98 418 418