A couple of weeks ago, as I was driving away from the Los Angeles airport, a huge, brilliantly illuminated billboard arrested my attention. It carried one simple message in three simple words: "Keep Hope Alive." I must tell you it was the most compelling billboard I've ever seen, because keeping hope alive is the number-one priority of the city of Los Angeles today. We're in trouble. We're broken. We're hurting. If hope dies, the city will die with it.

But we all need to keep hope alive. Hope is to our spirits what oxygen is to our lungs. Your spirit dies when hope dies. They may not bury you for a while, but without hope you're dead.