As a proud American, my favorite movie of all time is Disney’s “Miracle,” the story of the 1980 U.S. hockey team that won the Olympic Gold Medal in Lake Placid. 20 men with faith in each other were able to defeat a true “Goliath”—the powerhouse hockey team from the Soviet Union.
In this year’s Olympics, we again saw a group of young men, united by their faith in one another, win the ultimate prize as Team USA defeated Canada for the 2026 Gold Medal in Men’s Ice Hockey.
Faith has the power to conquer the enemy and reinstall confidence in people, and even a nation.
The people who gain this new confidence by watching from the sidelines often miss what these hockey “heroes” and others like them have known and lived all along: the secret is to live life in confidence while being fueled by purpose.
Now it is great for a hockey team to win gold, but these principles of faith and purpose are more than that; they are the guiding forces that built our nation and what makes a people live life to the fullest.
Our nation’s founders sought to create a country built on the foundation of faith in God and freedom from tyrannical oppression and governance from the British. A nation and people founded on confidence in the Lord.
But “We the People” have lost this confidence.
The movie “Miracle” highlights a speech given by President Jimmy Carter in an address to the nation on July 15, 1979. Describing our nation and her struggles, he says, “It is a crisis of confidence. It is a crisis that strikes at the very heart and soul and spirit of our national will. We need to stop crying and start sweating, stop talking and start walking, stop cursing and start praying. Working together united by our common faith, we cannot fail.”
Our people have lost confidence in each other as fellow Americans and more importantly, in God, his judgment and rule in life. We have become so blind to true confidence in God that we have tried to make ourselves gods to rule over every factor of life, rather than trust in him and his plan.
Christians look to the Bible to know that God’s plan and purpose for us is good. The stories of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob demonstrate this, as does the story I used earlier, of David versus Goliath. But people miss a crucial factor of that story: it was not just some little guy beating the clearly bigger and better opponent; David had faith in God and his own life’s purpose.
As a believer in the future of the country and its people, but above all a believer in God, it is my duty to share the good news to help others live satisfied in Christ.
But to those who are not believers, don’t forget the power of faith. Faith in ourselves, in each other and in our nation’s promise. Every one of us has a purpose and an important role to play.
And just maybe, if we keep that faith, America will find another miracle
