Self-made millionaire Eugene Land, a few years ago, was asked to speak to a class of teenagers in a ghetto area of New York. He wondered what he could say to inspire those kids, most of whom intended to drop out of school. On the spur of the moment he decided to scrap his notes and speak to them straight from his heart. ‘Stay in school,’ he said, ‘and if you do I’ll help pay the college tuition for every one of you.’ At that moment something happened that changed those kids’ lives. For the first time ever they had hope, and nearly all of them went on to finish high school.
‘Hope,’ the Bible says, ‘is the great anchor for the soul.’ But hope, to be real, has to be based on a sure promise. For those kids it was the word of Eugene Land. For we who hope for eternal life, it is the promise of God.