Coping & Growing with Adversity

Today I want to give a special sermon. I gave this two months ago. I don't remember, but it was about two months ago. I gave it up in Gaylord. I had an extra Sabbath there with a two-sabbath in a row. So I put this sermon together. Actually, from notes I had taken many, many years ago back in 1986 from a lecture that I attended out in the Seattle area. I put this together from the notes I took from that lecture. I found the date. The date was actually the lecture was March 24, 1986. So I was given quite a while ago. This very interesting lecture, and I took notes in it. There are seven points that this person brought out, and they're very good points for all of us. Before I get to notes, first I want to read a couple of scriptures. Let's go to 2 Timothy chapter 3. 2 Timothy chapter 3. We're very familiar with this, about prophecy for the last days and perilous times and so on. 2 Timothy chapter 3, beginning in verse 1. But know this, that in the last days, perilous, dangerous, stressful times will come. Why? Because men will be lovers of themselves, and some will be lovers of money. There will be bolsters, and some will be proud, and some will blaspheme and be disobedient to parents. And I'm thankful for the blessings that they've received, not recognizing where they came from, and unholy, unloving, unforgiving. Some will be slanderers, and not have self-control, and be brutal, and spies are good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. Having any form of Godliness but denying His power from such people, turn away. So, that's quite a list. We do see some of that today. Hopefully not in everybody, but you see that in some people, and it's kind of increasing in some ways. But what if we got in a situation whereby we couldn't turn away from such people? You were kind of stuck there.

But we can't all agree with one thing. We're living in kind of perilous times right now, and you kind of see things going the way they're going. You wonder what's going to happen next. How perilous, how stressful are they going to become? The Living Bible paraphrases verse 1 here in 2 Timothy 3 this way. You may as well know this too, Timothy. Then the last days it's going to be difficult to be a Christian. That's an interesting way of putting it. And we see that happening. Kind of the tide is turning against Christianity in some ways. Living Bible also paraphrases verse 5 by saying this. They will go to church, but some will go to church, but they won't really believe what they hear. I hope we don't have anybody like that here. But in some cases, that's probably the case. They just kind of go there just to say they've gone to church. Sometimes a lot of people in some places do that. But we do have interesting... I just think about this. We have a magazine. It will print every month. Or is it a bi-monthly now? But anyway, we have the Beyond Today program on television. We have the Beyond Today magazine. And it's got a good circulation. There's a lot of people getting the magazine and reading it. But not too many really act on it. There are very few people acting on it. And very few request to come to church. And when they do, I get one once in a while. We all do. But then they usually don't show up. I got one a couple weeks ago where the person never showed up. They said they were going to be there, but they never worked. Matthew, that's more often the case.

In addition to 2nd Psalm 3.1, there's a second scripture that also talks about the times we're living in. It pertains to it. That's back in Jeremiah 30.

A few verses back here in Jeremiah 30. It talks about the time we're heading into. It looks like we're heading into that time now as a descendants of Israel, descendants of Jacob. Jeremiah 30, beginning in verse 5, Thus is the Lord. We have heard a voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace from some people. Ask now and see whether a man is ever in labor with child. It's going to be hard. Difficult times for everybody. Man and woman. So why do I see every man with his hands on his lines? Like a woman in labor, and all faces turn pale. In other words, it's going to affect everybody.

What's going to happen? Alas, for that day it's going to come as great. There is none like it. It is the time of Jacob's trouble. But in the end he will be saved out of it. But you wonder, we're about to enter that time when our movie is already entering it to a certain extent.

We're about to enter the time of Jacob's trouble. Well, like I said, I'm not going to get to the lecture yet, but also, another thing occurred about 40 years ago that's interesting that ties in here. Nearly 40 years ago, back on January 20, 1980, don't remember that day, we had a president that was inaugurated. Ronald Reagan was inaugurated on that day as the 40th President of the United States. But it's very interesting, do you all remember what happened on that particular day, besides his inauguration? Something happened, very significant.

On that very same day, as Reagan was delivering his inaugural address, 52 American hostages were released by the Iranian government in Tehran. They had been hostages for 444 days. Chief Justice Warren Burger administered the presidential oath of office to Reagan, who placed his hand upon a family Bible. This is not known widely, but you can research it out. Of course, when they take the oath of office, they always place their hand on a Bible. Ronald Reagan, he placed his hand on a family Bible. Not just anybody. He wanted his family Bible there. So he placed his hand on a family Bible, and he had that Bible opened to a certain scripture.

Not to me to put it all in, it wasn't an ounce or anything, but it was... He had it opened to 2 Chronicles 7, verse 14, as he took the oath of office. So I have to ask, why did Ronald Reagan have his family Bible opened to 2 Chronicles 7, 14?

Because he knew that America was going to stay a great nation and prosper. He knew the only way that that could happen moving forward would be if the entire nation came to... Why? What's written in 2 Chronicles 7, verse 14. Let's turn there. Someone's already turning there.

2 Chronicles 7, verse 14. If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and I will heal their land. Interesting that Ronald Reagan had the Bible open to that verse. He was hoping that maybe he could help bring that about, bring about healing of the land and healing God's people.

But, you know, that's not likely to happen. Sometimes it's gone by since then. But it says, first perilous times will come, which will then lead to the time of Jacob's trouble. But again, on January 20th, 1980, on the day that Ronald Reagan became our 40th president, 444 American hostages were released. Now, the man who gave the lecture I'm going to talk about today, that I attended back on March 24th, 1986, was one of those 52 hostages. That's why I saw that advertised in the paper there, and I thought, well, that would be interesting to hear a lecture from one of those hostages who had been in captivity in Tehran for 444 days.

But he was not only just one of those 52 hostages. He was the highest ranking officer, highest ranking military officer taken captive. He was an Air Force colonel and the highest ranking officer of those 444 hostages. His lecture was titled, Coping with Adversity and Growing with Change. Now, all those 444 days they were kept in captivity, Colonel, this man, this colonel here, this colonel of the Air Force, he spent 150 of those 444 days in solitary confinement. And you're not going to easily remember his name because his name was kind of like mine spelled differently, but his name was Colonel Thomas Shafer.

He spelled Shafer differently. He spelled S-C-H-A-E-F-E-R. Here's the interesting thing also. He did ask for one thing in solitary confinement, a very small room. I'll tell you in a little bit. I'll describe it. He was given, he asked for one thing. They did grant him one thing while he was in that room in solitary confinement for those 150 days. And the rest of the time he was in confinement. He asked for a Bible, and they did allow him to have a Bible.

And he said, as he had this Bible, he said there's one particular psalm that he read every day in his captivity.

It's a great psalm to read when coping with adversity. Let's turn to Psalm 13. It's a short psalm. He read this entire psalm every day. It's only six verses. Psalm 13. You can see this. You can understand why he would want to read this psalm in the situation he was in. Psalm 13, verse 1, How long, O Lord, will you forget me forever? Do you realize where I am in captivity? How long will you hide your face from me? How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily? How long is my enemy going to be exalted, though, from me, but be able to keep me captive here? How long? Good question. Certainly you'd have that on your mind, wouldn't you? Consider, he says here, consider and hear me, O Lord my God. He says, note that I'm here. What's going on? Enlighten my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death. He realized that those captives could at any time decide to put him to death. He realized that could happen at any moment. Enlighten my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death. Lest my enemy say I have prevailed against him. Lest those who told me rejoice when I am moved. But I have trusted in your mercy, and my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. Please save me, God, and send me. And I will sing to the Lord, because he has dealt bountifully with me. How could Colonel Shafer ply that part of this psalm to himself? My Lord has dealt bountifully with me. How could he say that? As a captive facing the possibility of death at any moment.

Well, in his lecture, he gave seven overall points, telling how he coped with his adversity and how it changed him and helped him grow spiritually. So today, then, I want to cover those seven points, plus the one thing that he mentioned at the very end that we all must do at all costs in order to be able to cope with this kind of adversity that he had to kind of face. So my title for my sermon here this afternoon, then, is Coping and Growing with Adversity.

Number one, the very first point he gave was... He was in solitary confinement for 150 days.

His very first point he gave in his lecture was, Remember, you were never alone.

Remember that you were never alone. Then he gave two aspects of that to keep in mind, if we are to be encouraged rather than becoming discouraged during a situation like that. So the first way to remember that you were never alone is, Remember that Christ is always with us. He understands what we're going through. He's always there. He's always present, and he understands what we're going through. He didn't give scriptures, but I'm going to add type scripture to these points. Hebrews 13. Hebrews 13, verses 5 and 6. Hebrews 13, verse 5. Let your conduct be without covenants. Be content with such things you have. Be content with whatever situation you're in. You're not happy about it, but accept it. That's what it means. Accept it. Free himself of sin. I will never leave you nor forsake you. I know what you're going through. I know where you're at. I'm going to be there. I'm there with you. I know what you're going through. And I will never leave you nor forsake you, no matter what situation you might be in, even though you might think that.

So we may boldly say, verse 6, The Lord is my helper. I will not fear what man can do with me. He had to keep that in mind. I know God knows I'm here. I'm not going to be afraid of what... I know they could take my life and they're talking about not going to fear that. Going back a few chapters of Hebrews 4.

Hebrews 4, verse 14. Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, Son of God, hold fast to our confession, hold fast to the calling that God has given us.

For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are yet without sin. Or as the old King James Version has it, for we do not have a High Priest who cannot be touched by the feelings of our infirmities.

Now, the second thing he gave in regards to ever being alone is that others also face the same kind of trials and adversity. You know, you're not alone because Christ is there, he knows you're there, he's with you. But also there are others who face similar trials and similar adversity and probably are facing trials right now.

See, our trials that we have, whatever they are, they're not unique. Many others around the world are going through similar trials, some far worse trials than we go through. And Colonel Safer recognized that and realized that. I know what everybody's going through around the world, but I know there's some facing worse trials than this. 1 Peter 5, Verse 8 and 9, Peter wrote this, Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.

And he went on and says, resist him. Remain steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings that you experience are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. Others are going through similar things, similar trials, some far worse.

Why do we sometimes experience those kind of sufferings? Well, for two reasons. One, so we can receive and experience God's comfort when he gives us comfort, because when you go through a trial and you ask for God to give you comfort, he can give you comfort through the trial. He can ease your mind, ease your worry. He can give you comfort that only he can give. When you experience that, it's a miraculous feeling. Number two, so we can then in turn comfort others with the comfort that we experience. And he tells us that in 2 Corinthians 1, verses 3 and 4, we go through those things. And when we see that comfort, then we can help others say, hey, ask God to give you comfort, because he will.

Remember then that while we may be experiencing trials and adversity, that we are never alone, number one. And that Christ is always with us, and he knows and understands what we're going through. And number two, he wants us to be strengthened by those trials, so we can then help others and strengthen and encourage others and extend comfort to them and help them. Now, the second overall point that Colonel Schaeffel brought out was, there is no instant solution to success.

You know, he knew that he was there in captivity. He knew the solution wasn't going to come quickly. I mean, it could come quickly, but he figured it's probably not going to come quickly.

He knew he'd probably have to endure and persevere until some kind of a loss. He'd have to endure and persevere until some kind of a solution came or a miracle came or something happened. And he'd have to endure until then.

But he knew that whatever that was, it was totally out of his control. He had no control over that. It could happen tomorrow, it might not happen. You know what was going to happen. You don't know. So he had no idea when or how maybe a solution would come about.

But he knew he wouldn't be released anytime soon. He figured that was an all-probability. Nope. He was going to release anytime soon. But that being the case, what must we do if we ever find ourselves in a situation where there's no apparent solution available to us right there, then and there?

What do we have to do in order to be successful in a situation like that? Well, it says in Matthew 24, 13, He who adores to the end shall be saved. You've got to endure whatever it is. So to be successful, we have to endure to the end. And while we are then enduring to the end, what also must we not do? That makes sure it's something we don't do while we're trying to endure this adversity or problem or situation we might be facing.

Matthew 24, 12 says this, Because longness will abound, the love of many will grow cold.

So must what we not do? We must never let our love for God or our love for a fellow man grow cold.

Can't ever allow that to happen.

That's what Satan wants.

You know, what does Christ say? He said, even love your enemies.

Love your enemies and do good to those who persecute you. Matthew 5, verse 44.

And the kernel of shape will try to keep that scripture in mind.

Why should we love our enemies? Because, as it says in 1 Corinthians 13, verse 8, Love never fails. So many things it will do. It keeps your mind positive. It keeps your thinking, I should say, in a positive frame of mind. In a situation like that, you don't want to get negative. You've got to try to remain positive. And if you can even learn to love your enemies in some way, then it keeps your thinking positive. And you can cope a lot better if you're thinking positive rather than negative. Stay in a positive frame of mind.

But remember, there may be no instant solution, in which case we must then endure to the end. And to the end of the situation we are in, we can endure... Maybe you can endure the situation we are in, or maybe just endure to the end of our life, whichever may come first. We don't know what God's going to do. But the third overall point that Colonel Shaffer made was... He had to do this. He had to apply this literally. He says, take one day at a time. Just try to take one day at a time. Don't try to think too far into the future. Colonel Shaffer's goal, he said, was to make it through the next 24 hours. As he knew he could be put to death at any time. I can just make it through the next 24 hours. You didn't want to think past that. What did Christ teach us in that regard? Let's go to Matthew 6.

Very familiar Scriptures. What are you doing here? Are you forgetting to read? I'm just going to read the Bible. I'm going to read the Bible. I'm going to read the Bible. Very familiar Scriptures. What are you doing here? Are you just trying to take one day at a time?

Let the Scripture tell us. Matthew 6.33, But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow.

Tomorrow will worry about its own things.

Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. Or as the Living Bible paraphrases verse 34. Fair enough, we paraphrase verse 34. Living Bible paraphrases verse 34 by saying, Don't be anxious about tomorrow. God will take care of your tomorrow. Live one day at a time.

Don't worry about the future before it comes. Put God in his righteous first and live one day at a time.

Now, the fourth overall point the Colonel Shavell brought out was, except the fact that there will be events in our life, we can do little or nothing about. We'll have no control over it.

There are some things that happen, and he said, Only God can work it out. Only God can bring us the solution. It's beyond our control.

Colonel Shavell realized he was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time when he was taken captive, and there was nothing he could have done to prevent what happened from happening. He was in the wrong place at the wrong time. And that happened when they raided the embassy and took those in that embassy hostage. He just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Here's the interesting thing. This was not the first time that Colonel Shavell had been taken captive. How won't you think about this? Not the first time.

He was first taken captive in World War II, and then he was again taken captive in Korea.

So this is the third time he'd been taken captive, and he was 50 years old when he was taken captive the third time when I ran. He was 50 years old. He'd already been taken captive twice.

So the very first thing he said, the first thing that came to my mind when this happened was, Why me? Why me?

I already got through this twice. I had to go through it again? Why me? And you can think about that, but you can start getting upset at God. Why would you allow this again? What's happening? You can get yourself in a real negative attitude.

You know, Job in his severe trial asked himself kind of the same question in a sense. Let's go back through it real quick. I'm working on a sermon for the feast about Job, but this is just one scripture here. Job 3, just verses 11 and 12, he was gotten discouraged at this point here, chapter 3, and he said, Why didn't I die at birth? Why didn't I perish when I came from the womb?

Why did the knees receive me? Why the breath that I should nurse?

You know, Job would say, Look, I've always feared God, and I hate it, even turned away from evil. Why in God are you allowing this to happen to me? Why me? So Job had that feeling. Colonel Shaper had. Why me? But once Colonel Shaper analyzed the situation and realized there was nothing he could have done to prevent it from happening, you know, he got to thinking about it and started thinking, Maybe I should reverse that question. Maybe instead of saying, Why me? Maybe I should say, Why not me? You know, look, here I am. I'm the leading officer here of all these men. They look up to me. They're going to try and wonder how I'm handling this. You know, maybe that's just the reason I'm here. I've gone through this twice before, and God got me through it. I'm the perfect person who should be here. I can help people. I've been through this. I know we can make it, man. We can take it. We can make it. God got me through it twice before. He can get us through it again. So he said, Why not me? I'm an ideal person to help these people, because I've already been through it. And God's seen me through it. There's no one better than me to help others do this as well.

After all, I've already been through it twice before and made it. God's delivered me. So by asking the question, Why not me? He accepted his situation so he could then effectively help others, which he did. So except the fact that there will be situations in our life that we can do little or nothing about, but then when that happens, instead of asking, Why me? Maybe we should ask, Why not me? You know, I've been in Gosh Church for many years. I've been through a lot of trials and difficulties. I've had a lot of losses. Now, this person's going through it. Maybe I can help them. I can say, Look, I can hang in there. God will see you through it. He's seen me through many things. He'll see you through it.

What was the fifth point that Colonel Shafer brought out when it comes to coping with adversity? The fifth point he brought out was, Don't take life too seriously.

Colonel Shafer analyzed his situation. He's telling us this in the lecture. And he concluded there were only two things that actually threatened his life. Two things. One, he said it was a court trial, which could convict him as being a spy, wrongfully, but it could convict him as being a spy, and probably lead to death by a firing squad. But then he had to realize, Well, you know, if that happens, hey, there's nothing I can do about that. I'm not going to do that from happening. If it happens, it happens. Kind of similar to what Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego went through. Turn there, read that. Interesting account, very inspiring account. Daniel 3.

Daniel 3, beginning in verse 14.

King Nebuchadnezzar spoke, saying to them, Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you do not serve my God? Is it true that you don't worship the gold image I've set up of myself?

Now he said, if you are ready, at the time you hear the sound of the horn and the flute and the harp and the lyre and the sultry, and when you hear that in symphony with all other kinds of music, and if you fall down and worship this golden image of me, which I have made, great. But if you do not worship the image, you shall be cast immediately into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. And who is the God who can save you from that?

Notice Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego's answer. This is amazing. So Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, you don't have to... We don't need to answer you. We don't need to think about how we're going to answer. We know immediately how we're going to answer. It doesn't matter. We already know. Our mind's already made up. We know. We're going to answer you. If that is the case, if you're going to throw us in that fiery furnace, we know that our God can deliver us if He wants to. He's all powerful. He's sovereign over all things. He knows what we're here. He knows what we're going through. He knows what your command is. And if He wants to save us from that furnace, He can save us right now. It would be no trouble for our God. He's all-powerful. He can deliver us from the burning fire of furnace. And one way or another, He is going to deliver us. Either He's going to deliver us from the furnace, or He's going to... If we fall in the furnace and we die, He'll deliver us from death later. Because our God can even deliver us from death. So we don't have to worry about how we're going to answer you. So let it be known then to you, verse 18, O King, that we do not serve your gods, nor we worship the golden image which you have set up.

Of course, that made me a little bit angry.

But they... See, they... Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, they knew that the outcome of their life was in God's hands. And they had to... The only thing they could do was depend on God. And if He didn't deliver them now, He could deliver them later. It didn't work matter. They already knew they weren't going to compromise their relationship with God, or their obedience to God.

So they realized this... What these threats of the King have occurred, that wasn't something to really worry about or take too seriously. Because they knew their lives were in God's hands anyway.

Now, a second thing, the Colonel Shaphar brought out, that he thought of besides a court trial that could threaten his life... Was that he could be accidentally shot by a guard. Because he saw these guards out there, these Iranian guards, and they weren't too cool in handling rifles. Every once in a while, they'd be running out there with a rifle, kind of messing around, and the shot would go off. They weren't real good with their rifles. So he realized, you know, God had brought you these guards because, you know, you could get accidentally shot. They might just be playing with a rifle. That would be a point that you can accidentally pull the trigger. So he kept his distance. He kept his eye on the guards and kept his distance. But the bottom line was that he had to not take his situation too seriously to where it could wear him down mentally and emotionally.

Also, realize that time and chance happens to us all. Here is the description of Ecclesiastes. Let's go to Ecclesiastes chapter 9. Ecclesiastes 9 verses 11 and 12, where Solomon wrote, I returned and saw unto the sun that the race is not to the swift always, nor is battle always to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to men of understanding at all times, nor favor of men of skill sometimes. But time and chance happen to them all. Time and chance can happen to everyone.

For man also does not know his time, like fish taken in a cruel net, like birds caught in a snare. So the Son of Man can sometimes be snared in evil time, as was Colonel Shafer, when it falls upon them suddenly. But also realize this, as Paul wrote in Romans 8, 28, that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to his purpose. Whatever happens, if you keep faithful to God and trust in God, it can all work out in the long run for the good. But don't take life too seriously, as Colonel Shafer said. Then the sixth point Colonel Shafer brought out was, and this is very, very important, is always remain positive. Try to keep your mind in a positive mind of thought, if you can.

Colonel Shafer made this statement in his lecture, which I wrote down in my notes word for word when I found them a while back. He said, there is a two-position switch in our mind, positive and negative.

Only you control that switch, he said. Hot-wire it in the positive position. Keep your mind focused in the positive position. Don't let anybody influence you. Start thinking negatively, because it can take you off track, get you in the wrong direction.

And Apostle Paul applied that when he was taken prisoner and taken captive on three occasions.

He did that. He locked his mind in a positive position. He remained positive as he had managed to resolve us. Let's read that in Philippians 4. Philippians 4. Remember, he was a captive in several occasions. But he hot-wired his mind in a positive position. And he recorded it here in Philippians 4, verse 8. Where he says, Whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there's any virtue, if there's anything praiseworthy, he says, Let your mind focus and be locked in on those things, because those are godly things. Don't let somebody take your mind off in a negative direction. We can get yourself all worked up. Always remain positive. Hot-wire your mind in a positive position. Then the seventh point that Colonel Schamper brought out was, Keep your life productive.

Now, how do you do that? If you're in confinement in a small room for 150 days, and this room was only six feet by six feet, just barely big enough to sleep in, lay down in, I should say, no bed in there, you don't sleep on the floor.

But how do you keep your life productive in solitary confinement in a 6x6-foot room?

How do you do that?

As I said, he was 150 days in soli- that was five months in solitary confinement. He was in a very small room, he was by himself. He said the room was only six feet by six feet, just big enough to lay down in.

But he told us that he developed a routine every day in order to keep his life productive.

Number one, he said- and he was given books, he loved to have books. He was allowed to have a Bible and other books. So he would read and study for one hour.

He did this in five different segments. For one hour he would read and study. Read his Bible, read another book.

There were high school books in the embassy that they let him read.

And he read those. He said he read over 200 books during his captivity.

He said- this is amazing- he said they have some German language books. They are high school German language books.

So he checked those out. He learned how to read German. And he was in there in that four and forty days of captivity. He learned to read German. He learned the German language by reading German books and English books and translations and so on.

So he kept his life productive. He spent one hour a day reading.

Then from the next hour, he said, what he'd do is, he exercised for an hour.

And he's fifty years old now when he was in captivity there. And he said before he was released, after those four and forty-four days, he'd work himself up. Fifty-year-old man. But he exercised every day, do push-ups. See how he kept pushing him to the salem, and he said, finally he got to be where he could do one thousand push-ups in a day. Wow.

Then the third thing he'd do, the next to third hour, then he would say he spent the next hour walking around the room and singing and meditating. He'd have a song in his mind. He'd just walk around the room singing and meditating about the words of that song and many of that song. Different songs would come to his mind, and he would just walk around the room singing. Then, fourth hour in this routine, he said he spent an hour doing mind games to exercise his mind, keep his mind active. He said, I used to be a bridge player. I love bridge. So I said, I would actually sit there in my mind, I think, four hands of bridge. This person has this, this, this, this, this, and this will be the one that, you know, whatever. And he said, in my mind, I'd say, well, this person will play this card, and he'll come back with it. He'd play bridge in his mind. See, he also played poker in his mind. He mentioned different hands of poker and how this might play and how you respond and so on. He played mind games, keep his mind active. And then, in the fifth hour, he spent one hour just relaxing and daydreaming. He'd sit there just relaxing, thinking, I'm thinking, thinking about my family. What are my families doing? I wonder what they're doing back home. I wonder what the kids are doing. Are they in school? I wonder what's happening there in the playground? Playing a football game or something? He'd just kind of think about his family and friends. He'd set his hopes on the future, wanting to get back together with him and wonder what his wife was doing. And he'd think of that, those kind of things. Just relaxing and kind of daydreaming about his family and his friends and his future. He said he repeated those five one-hour routines throughout the day in order to keep his mind productive. And to keep the situation from getting the best of him.

He then concluded his lecture with one overall point to always keep in mind. He said, this is one thing I had to keep in mind throughout all this. I had to just hold on to this above anything else. He said, this is the one thing that we must cling to at all costs and under all circumstances, when we find ourselves in this kind of a situation. He said, there was one thing he always kept uppermost in his mind, which enabled him to make it through his 444 days of captivity. Which is also the one thing that we have to keep in our minds as well. If we are faced with trials and adversity and things that seem hopeless. He summed it up with one word, hope. So when things seem hopeless, always keep hope in your mind. Focus on hope. Never let hope waver.

No matter how severe your trial, or no matter how difficult or seemingly impossible your situation might be, you should never lose hope. You know, along as we know, in 1 Corinthians 13, along with faith and love, I should say, hope is one of the three greatest attributes we can possess and cling to. As expressed by the Apostle Paul in his first letter to the Church of Corinth, 1 Corinthians 13, verse 13, where he said, now abide faith, hope, and love, these three, but the greatest of these, he said, is love. And I want to point out something as far as why love might be the greatest of these. One of the reasons love is the greatest is because hope is incorporated within love.

As Paul expressed in 1 Corinthians 7, 7, where he wrote that love bears all things, believes all things, endures all things, and love hopes all things. So hope is incorporated within love.

But how can we cling to hope in a seemingly hopeless situation? Well, because maybe in a situation with men, as we would look at it humanly, it seems impossible. But we know that's not true with God, isn't it? With God, all things are possible. And when all things are possible, it always gives you hope.

And that's... go to Mark 10, verse 27, to read that. With God, all things are possible. Which is why we must also cling to hope at all costs under all circumstances, to find ourselves in that kind of situation. But I thought it was a very, very interesting lecture. It was very profitable. It had a big impact on me back in 1986, so I took those notes and found them a while back. And I thought, well, that's worth passing on. But in conclusion, I learned from Colonel Shaver's experience as a captive in Iran for 444 days, and from what we also read in God's Word. We must apply these lessons in our life when we're in various trials and adversities, maybe sometimes it can get us discouraged and seem hopeless. Number one, remember that we are never alone. Number two, there is no instant solution to success, but I have to endure. You might not have an instant solution. Number three, take one day at a time.

Number four, accept the fact that there will be events in our lives that we can do little or nothing about. Number five, don't take your situation too seriously. Take it seriously, but don't take it too seriously. Don't take life too seriously. Number six, maybe the biggest one, always try to remain positive. Try to always see the positive side of things in any way you can. And seven, keep our lives productive. And remember that one of the things we must always cling to at all costs and under all circumstances is hope. Never lose hope. If we do all these things in some day, in the not too distant future, the fulfillment of our hope will become a reality.

When Christ returns to establish God's kingdom on the earth. So never lose hope, because that is how we can then cope and grow with adversity.