In 1785, a hot air balloon successfully crossed the English Channel for the first time.

Jean-Pierre Blanchard, a Frenchman, and his American passenger, Dr. John Jeffries, became the first people to cross the English Channel by air balloon when they traveled from Dover to Calais. The trip was not without its perils. The two had to shed their clothes as the wind died and the balloon’s airbag began to cool too quickly over the sea. For Blanchard, who had an avid interest in aviation, this was the beginning of “firsts” for him. In 1793, Blanchard made the first ever balloon ascent in America, carrying a letter from President George Washington from Pennsylvania to New Jersey (the first air mail!). Blanchard also made first balloon flights in Germany, Belgium, Poland, and the Netherlands.

But that’s not his only claim to fame. The story goes that Blanchard also owns the record for the most consecutive number of times saying, “Gosh, I hope we make it,” during one particular hazardous trip. Hope certainly had to be a major part of every one of Blanchard’s flights. But his hope was based on uncertainty. Blanchard really didn’t know whether his balloon would land safely, or if the wind would die, or if the airbag would cool too quickly. He just wanted them to.

That’s quite different from the hope we have as Christians. In the Bible hope is defined as looking forward to something you expect to happen. We can have that kind of confidence because of God’s character. What God has done for us in the past is the guarantee of what he will do in the future. We have real hope because it is based in God himself.

O Lord, you alone are my hope.
I’ve trusted you, O Lord, from childhood (Psalm 71:5).

To Do

Make an acrostic of the word HOPE, making a list of what we have hope for in God. Here’s a start: H—Heaven. You do the rest!

Also on this day . . .

I’m Not Going to Take it Anymore Day

1610—Galileo discovered four of Jupiter’s moons.

1789—The first national presidential election was held.

From Betsy Schmitt and Dave Veerman, 365 Trivia Twist Devotions: An Almanac of Fun Facts and Spiritual Truth for Every Day of the Year (Cincinnati: Standard, 2005). Scripture quotations are from the New Living Translation unless otherwise noted.