Dreams rise like mist from wet jungle as tenuous imitations of life that cling to ridge and tree. Some hide for years in deep clefts and caves carefully guarded, even nurtured as technicolor wishes.

Hope burns like a candle, shining its lone light into dark, stormy nights. It knows that somehow, someway, sometime, the object of its desire will navigate to the bright beacon.

But, wind disperses mist and fire consumes wax. The truth is that time, doubt and fear eventually wear down soft things. Dreams fade from memory to less than myth. Hope flickers out leaving only a small, greasy spot in our heart.

Fortunately, God provides something harder. Faith wears like diamond, withstands all eons, despair and terror. Long after dreams and hope dissolve, faith still trumps sense and knowledge. Manufactured neither by nature nor man, faith says God’s Word alone defines reality.

So tell me, what happened the last time God’s peace caught you just as your hand slipped off your stoutest resolve-rope?