In the winter of 1927, the USS Paulding, a Naval destroyer on loan to the Coast Guard, accidentally rammed and sank an S-4 submarine off the coast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

Angry seas from a nor’easter—a macro-scale cyclone—forced a pause in the efforts to rescue the sub’s thirty-eight man crew. But, in one of the final efforts of heroism, deep sea divers heard Morse code coming from the hull of the sub’s forward torpedo room: Is there any hope? Please hurry, please! All thirty-eight perished.

Eternity. Heaven. Hell. “Is there any hope?”

• For some, no. — To the Christians of Thessalonica who were wrestling with the death of fellow Christians, Paul wrote,  “[W]e do not want you to be uninformed about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope” (1 Thessalonians 4:13).
• For some, yes. — To mistreated Christians that had been forced to leave their homes, Peter wrote, “[God] has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance […] in heaven” (1 Peter 1:3-4).

Now, who are those without hope? Those who do not enjoy a relationship with God (Ephesians 2:12). And, again, who are those with hope? Those who have a faith like Abraham, a faith that motivates them to accept, trust and act on what God says (Romans 4:18-5:2).

Think about yourself or members of your family and ask that question again, “Is there any hope?”