When Elijah tells the widow not to fear and gives her instructions for preparing a meal, “she went and did as Elijah said” (17:15). What did she have to lose? Later, she gives Elijah her son to heal, having already blamed him for what appears to be a fatal illness. Again, what did she have to lose? Hopelessness can look like foolhardiness when we believe we have nothing left to lose. In the movie The Lost Bus (directed by Paul Greengrass, Apple Films, 2025, 1:39–1:41), based on the rescue of schoolchildren from the Camp Fire in northern California, the bus driver who delivers them to safety later reflects, “You know, when I first got the call to go pick up the kids, I started to think that maybe, maybe I could earn a second chance if I just got the kids out safe, you know? Except they don’t always work that way, second chances.”
