In a recent article on Premier Christianity, Phil Knox, with the European-based Evangelical Alliance, shared an encounter he had with a coffee barista on an early morning train ride into London.

After asking how her morning was going, he was met with a barrage of complaints ranging from her sore foot to concerns about an impending World War III.

As he turned to leave with a latte in hand, Phil told the woman, “We all need a bit of hope don’t we?!” As he walked away, she woefully replied, “But there is no hope.”

In a world reeling from one crisis to the next, Phil explains that our faith offers hope. Not only that, he pointed to a recent British study conducted by the Institute for the Impact of Faith in Life, which found how faith contributes to good mental health.

“It reports that 73% of those who identify as religious say they have ‘good psychological wellbeing,’ compared to only 49% for atheists,” Phil noted.

But not just that, he added that the study also found that “76% describe themselves as happy, compared to 52% for atheists. 69% say they are optimistic over their own future, compared to 42% of atheists.”

Before leaving the train, Phil actually wrote a note to that barista, explaining how his faith gave him hope in a world that he described as being in a state of ‘permacrisis.’

The barista’s face seemed to light up when he explained what he was doing as he handed her the letter.

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