As I stare into the darkness, I realize that hope IS real - if it exists in a power outside of myself.

It is if God is real.

It is if there really is a God who loves us, who is all-powerful, ever-faithful, and everlasting. It is if God IS who he says he is.

Hope is real if this God really knows how the story ends before it does - and he knows it turns out well.

It is if God is control.

But how do I know if any of that is true?

How can I know God is really there?

I realize then that I have one thing to hold onto. I can know God is there because he has told us he is. He gave us the Bible.

Oh, yeah, yeah. Sure. The Bible. Isn't it nothing more than a bunch of stories written by some ancient guys just as lost as me, looking for the same hope in a crazy world as I am? Isn't the Bible nothing more than wishful thinking itself?

Or is it?

What if the Bible really IS God telling us where we came from, why we are here, and where we are going?

What if the Bible really does tell us the truth of our existence?

What if the Bible really IS true?

Then all the Bible says, all that it promises, is true.

Then my hope is in something far more than wishful thinking. It is in the power that created the universe and gives it life.

And it is real.

My God - my hope - is as real as the sun that rises every morning.