Hopecasting by Mark Oestreicher, A Review

Sing to me the song of the stars
Of Your galaxy dancing and laughing and laughing again
When it feels like my dreams are so far
Sing to me of the plans that You have for me over again

And I lay my head back down
And I lift my hands and pray
To be only yours
I pray to be only yours

I know now you’re my only hope

– Switchfoot : Only Hope

You know the feeling. The sinking pit of despair that roots itself into your very veins. The darkness that overtakes you when you feel as though there is nothing left, when the stars have lost their shine, and the thought of waking in the mornings is too much to take. You know the feeling.

Hopelessness.

We all encounter the monster of hopelessness in different ways. For some of us, like me, it comes when we don’t plan well and your work calendars get the best of us and our families are screaming for our attentions and everything comes to a screeching halt. For others of us, also like me, it may have been a move away from friends and family – or the loss of a loved one that takes you to that place. To that crushing weight. To hopelessness.

I need you to know something.
I need you to read it and let it resonate.

THERE IS HOPE.

Read it again. Let it quake within your bones.

THERE IS HOPE. 

Once more. Slowly breathe out and as you breathe in let it course through your veins as blood pumps through your chest.

THERE IS HOPE. 

There is hope. His name is Jesus.

That’s not a cheesy churchy Christian thing to say. It’s a I’ve been hopeless. I’ve looked for help in other places. I’ve tried to help myself. I’ve tried to come back from the dark with my own two feet and realized very quickly that the only thing that can keep me sane fill me with the life and love and grace and forgiveness and peace and mercy… is the hope of Jesus.

Hopecasting by Mark Oestreicher is an exploration of hope. It’s a tool to help us realize who we are in Christ and how to orient ourselves around Him and how to position ourselves to receive the hope that He offers. It’s a beautifully written book that brings us into Mark’s story to help us reveal how Jesus can be the hope we so desperately need when our stories grow dim.

Hopecasting Official Book Description

Why are some people full of hope, while many of us struggle to get past the snooze alarm? Hope often seems elusive―both to explain and to experience. So we find ourselves instead clinging to lesser substitutes. From self-medication to lazy clichés, we apply these balms to our pain and experience little to no comfort. But we know, in our guts, that these replacements aren’t the hope-filled lives we long for, the lives we were made for. Mark Oestreicher gets it. Through hard-wrought experience and robust-bordering-on-desperate theological reflection, he offers here a fresh perspective on Hope, that virtue that God carries to us even as God carries us. Read Hopecasting and discover a good God casting hope your way.

Links Related to Hopecasting

• InterVarsity Press: Hopecasting
• ChristianBook.com: Hopecasting eBook
• Adam McLane: Hopecasting Book Review