Hope Abounds

A columnist for SJ Mercury News wrote about his musings on the advent of springtime. The columnist ended his narrative with the words “Hope abounds”.

Those very words capture the sentiment of a momentous occasion that was nothing short of a miracle. On January 27, Darlene Etienne, a 16-year old Haitian girl was “pulled ALIVE from the rubble of a building in Port-au-Prince by a French rescue team...TWO WEEKS after the quake” pummeled Haiti like a wrecking ball. In this story, hope and deliverance came in the form of a French search team “that refused to go home when others did.” Indeed, hope abounds for Darlene’s mother, a poor rice-and-vegetable peddler, who prayed unceasingly for her daughter’s rescue. In her words: “I never thought she was dead. I always thought she was alive.” When asked why, she replied, “It’s God.”

Days before I learned about Darlene Etienne’s story, Mary and I were sitting at the table when she remarked, “God sure has a lot of homes. He lives in heaven. He lives in the church. He lives in my heart. He lives in your heart. He lives in everybody’s heart!”

There's no doubt as to WHO sustained Darlene Etienne during her harrowing ordeal.

So it is, my dear sweet girl. Even in the confines of a crumbled concrete graveyard, in complete and total darkness, devoid of food, water, and human contact, He Lives and Hope Abounds.