Just two months ago, in our March issue, we published a piece in this space written by Pres Holcomb.  He shared how his purposeful choice to reach out to minister to two older ladies in his church ended up blessing him as much or more than it did them (He shared this in a Facebook post; we sought his permission to share here with you).    We met Pres and his family years ago, when they lived in Huntsville, attended church with us, and Pres was the girls’ soccer coach at Huntsville High School. His career removed them to Kingwood, but not from our hearts.

On April 5, Pres passed from this life, ending an over five-year battle with cancer.  We followed the family’s difficult journey on a Facebook “Hope for Holcomb” page, and we prayed many prayers along the way.

Each of us longs to know our life makes a difference.  We hear “Be the change you want to see in the world,” and “Leave the world better than we found it.”  These are noble tasks, but can seem daunting, overwhelming, or even impossible at times.

I think Pres was onto something.  It starts with the little things…a single choice, a single action, a single step down the path.  Speaking of paths, it’s not unlike The Good Samaritan—who made a single choice when encountering someone in need (along his literal path)—a story we are all still familiar with and talk about today.

God is faithful, and our hope is fulfilled.  We always knew it would be.  Pres was either going to be healed from cancer here…or in God’s arms. He is whole, and hope lives on.  Hope persists in each opportunity we receive to make a single choice, a single action, a single step along the way that makes a difference.

For Christians do not grieve as those who have no hope.  – I Thessalonians 4:13

 But not only that! We even take pride in our problems, because we know that trouble produces endurance, endurance produces character, and character produces hope. This hope doesn’t put us to shame, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. – Romans 5:3-5