What would keep you from despair in this kind of worst-case scenario? What prevented the Stams and the Scotts from losing their faith in God? Still reeling from the news of their children’s barbaric deaths, these grieving parents left a written record of three truths that kept them from despair.

In the past few weeks, hyperbole has risen to ridiculous heights, climaxing with election day in the U.S. “The policies of the left would unleash an economic disaster of epic proportions,” Trump declared, predicting a great depression if his opponent won. Meanwhile, Biden asserted that if Trump wins, wildfires would become more rampant and COVID-19 would kill thousands more people. If you listen to both camps, the end of the world will come no matter who becomes the next president.

What if they’re right? What if the worst-case scenario, however you define it, occurred? What if your preferred candidate loses? What if we are plunged into a new dark age? What if cherished freedoms evaporate? What will keep you, as a Christian, from despair?

When the Worst-Case Scenario Occurs

The Stam and Scott families understood worst-case scenarios. These two Christian couples watched in pride as their children married and began their life together as missionaries in China. The young couple, John and Betty Stam, thrived in a difficult environment, a shining light in a dark time.^[1] Soon, their parents’ joy multiplied as God blessed them with a granddaughter named Helen.

Then, the families’ worst fears became reality. War broke out. Local leaders promised the young couple’s city was safe and foreigners would be protected. But then unexpectedly and in just a matter of hours, hostile forces surrounded their place of safety. The next thing the in-laws knew, the Stam’s mission received a ransom note. Just days later on a lonely hillside, a blood-stained sword decapitated the young couple. To make matters even worse, no one knew what had become of their infant granddaughter.

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