When you tell someone you are going to Alaska, the usual response is either, “Oh man, that’s amazing. I went there on a cruise once,” or, “Why? It’s so cold.” Once I correct them and explain that I am going to bush communities for suicide prevention, they are often confused.

When the traditional lands that are now called Alaska were colonized by Russia and then by the United States, many of the Inuit and Indigenous Peoples were displaced and forced into small villages with little to no access to other communities or resources. Today, most of these communities are still subsistence living, depending on fishing or hunting in order to survive. Drug epidemics, lateral violence, and alcohol abuse have swept through many villages, leaving people with little hope.

However, I find myself constantly reflecting on the rays of light that shine through the cracks in the darkness. In the Gospel of Matthew, the two Marys who showed up at the tomb were facing a wall of darkness. Their hope in their leader had been dashed by his state-sponsored execution. They were going simply to mourn and show their respects, but a light burst through in an unexpected place. Hope was restored within them.

When I travel with Carry the Cure, Inc., we get a chance to see and experience this same light of hope breaking through. In the last village of our most recent trip, a young man walked up to our leader, Bill Pagaran, and said, “Your program saved my life. I planned to end it today, but you all made me see that my life has value and that I can have hope.”

Things can seem chaotic in the world around us, but my encouragement is to seek out those cracks where the light shines through and to wait in expectation. Even better, we should be the ones to bring that message of hope to dark places, allowing the beauty and the assets that are already there to break through.

It doesn’t take much to tell someone: You are valuable. You are loved. The simple truth of the empty tomb is that life has a way of shattering the darkness when we least expect it. Hope changes everything.