When we focus on survival, life becomes pretty straightforward. Food, water, shelter, health, and hopefully the warm embrace of a loved one. That’s what we truly need.

If we are blessed to have all those, then I know you agree we have a lot to be grateful for this Christmas. 

But what if a less evident, less material, and largely unrecognized factor is equally important to human survival? Based on my experience as a faith-based leader who’s traveled to more than 50 countries, mobilizing churches to respond to wars and natural disasters, I believe there is. 

That less evident factor is hope. If we truly understood its power, we’d package it up and stuff it into every survival kit the world over. 

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Hope was actually the focus of this past Sunday of Advent, on December 1, for Christians around the world, and it was a pivotal part of the Angel’s announcement to the shepherds of the birth of Christ.

In Luke 2:9-12 we read, “An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David, a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.’” 

In their day, shepherds were outcasts, poor, and downtrodden. Their lives were hard, and they had little to look forward to. But the fact that God chose to reveal the birth of Christ to them gave them hope. And this news spurred the shepherds to action. 

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I’ve personally witnessed how hope empowers the human spirit to prevail. People can weather just about anything. As long as they have hope. Hope gives human beings the confident expectation that a better day is coming. It enables us to live victorious through life’s tsunamis with our heads above the water, rather than under it.

For one very recent example, just consider Chimney Rock, North Carolina. 

In September, Hurricane Helene’s intense rains triggered catastrophic flooding in Chimney Rock and all throughout parts of Appalachia. Roads were washed out; homes and businesses were flooded. Residents in remote regions were literally cut off from civilization, and a staggering 126,000 homes sustained damage.

Flash forward to today, and when you make your way down Main street in Chimney Rock you’ll still see that most of the businesses that are fortunate to be standing are still boarded up. Peek inside, however, and you’ll see a flurry of activity. 

The town’s alive with a glorious orchestra of pounding nails. Fresh two-by-four framing has gone up, and pristine drywall has already replaced the damaged interiors. 

As Chimney Rock Mayor Pete O’Leary recently said, “It’s been constant construction, constant cleaning, constant traffic on the road with dump trucks and big vehicles. We were hit hard and we need a lot of assistance to get back on our feet, and we’re very hopeful that assistance will be forthcoming.”

Did you notice that he said “hopeful”? It’s what all of us desperately need in times of adversity. 

Our team at CityServe has been active in a five-state region hit by the storm, with a special focus on western North Carolina and Chimney Rock. We’ve mobilized chainsaw crews to clear out debris and set up aid stations to distribute food and water. We also helped coordinate the delivery of special cargo that Ivanka Trump brought to North Carolina: 300 StarLink devices requested by President-elect Trump and provided by Elon Musk. They were distributed to first responders who used them to reconnect with residents who’d lost communications.

But I’d submit that Ivanka’s arrival, and the arrival of many other philanthropists and charitable organizations, brought something that — while less tangible — may have been even more important. They brought hope. Residents of North Carolina’s wild and beautiful hill country knew they’d not been forgotten; that helped sustain their hope.

To be clear, much work remains and countless repairs are still needed. Mayor O’Leary estimates Chimney Rock’s Main Street will not reopen until sometime this spring. 

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But here’s what I can tell you: In the face of heartbreak and devastation, Chimney Rock will ultimately emerge bigger and better than ever. How can I be so sure? 

Because while it’s true many there have lost loved ones, their homes and businesses, their hope is alive and well. If you think Helene can keep them from celebrating the Holidays this year, think again. 

Want to take stock this Christmas of all our blessed nation has to be grateful for? I’d say start with the resilient residents of Chimney Rock. Their hopeful spirit in the wake of a devastating flood stands as a shining example for all of us. With the help of friends and neighbors, they’re piecing their community back together one nail, one dry-wall section, one plywood slab at a time. 

For the shepherds at the very first Christmas, the Lord made it a point to reveal himself to those who needed good news the most. So, as Americans help those who need it most right now, we’re learning an important lesson about hope this Christmas. We’re learning that no matter the hurdles, hope is always possible. 

May the people of Chimney Rock be a lesson to us all. Their endurance shows us that as long as the beacon of hope shines bright, nothing can stop a people blessed by Providence with a spirit to endure. 

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As the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the high-profile transgender case this past week, a prominent detransitioner and public speaker emphasized the importance of the case and said it could change everything about the gender ideology they fight in the United States.  

U.S. v. Skrmetti revolves around a Tennessee law that bans sex-change treatments and surgeries for children. Experts believe the Supreme Court’s decision in the case could set a precedent that will shape laws about transgender treatments for children across the country.

“It’s incredibly important that this law goes through so that other states, not just Tennessee, who have these protective laws, can uphold them in courts and maybe states that are more on the fence, like blue states or purple states, can have pressure put on them to put in these laws to protect children in their area as well,” Chloe Cole told Fox News Digital in the frigid cold outside the Supreme Court building

“This is an identity crisis that is plaguing my generation right now,” she continued. “Children are losing their health, they’re losing their ability to grow up into adults, are losing their ability to have children when they become adults. It’s unconscionable.”  

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Cole, who is 20 years old and began transitioning from a female into a male at the age of 12 and stopped at 17, said that she continues to suffer daily pain and faces serious health issues from the long-term effects of the sex-change treatments and surgery she received as a child.

“I’ve been on the puberty blockers, the testosterone injections, and I’ve had a double mastectomy, and all three of these treatments have irreversibly and permanently affected my health,” she said.

“I basically went through an artificial menopause while I was young,” Cole explained. “So, I was experiencing hot flashes and these other uncomfortable, painful symptoms that are not too dissimilar to what women naturally experience when they’re in their 40s, 50s, 60s, not before they’re even teenagers.“

Chloe Cole began the gender transition process at age 12 and received a double mastectomy surgery at 15. (Fox News Digital)

Some activists, including attorneys arguing against Tennessee’s law, posit that sex-change treatments help children suffering from gender confusion, improving their mental health and preventing suicide. However, many former transgender individuals – often called “detransitioners” – dispute the claim that sex-change treatments solve mental health issues. Instead, they say that in addition to causing physical problems, treatments can also lead to serious psychological damage.

Besides having to live with the reality of having both her breasts cut off at the age of 15, Cole said that testosterone has also “made it so that I have permanent changes to my bone structure.”

“I have a left-over Adam’s apple and facial hair growth, but I also have issues with my urinary tract, with pelvic pain [and] with things like sexual function, which, now, as an adult woman, that is something that has been both physically and psychologically incredibly painful,” she explained.

“I’m a woman,” she went on. “I aspire to become a mother one day, I want to get married, and this is something that is going to undoubtedly affect my marriage, my romantic life, and potentially my ability to have children.”

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Activists hold a rally outside the Supreme Court building in Washington, D.C., as the court hears oral arguments in the transgender treatments case of U.S. v. Skrmetti on Dec. 4, 2024. (Fox News Digital)

Although gender transition treatment is promoted by doctors and hospital systems across the country, Cole said that there are still many unanswered questions about the long-term effects of these treatments.

“I don’t know what the lasting effects are on my fertility. There are so many unknowns about my health, I have no idea what the future of my health is going to look like,” she said. “It’s been years after the fact, and I’m still experiencing reeling effects from all of this when I could have just grown up into a healthy young woman with a body intact.”

Although she continues to suffer the aftereffects of the treatments, Cole said she is resolved to stop more children from suffering what she underwent.  

“This is not what children deserve,” she concluded. “Children deserve to be allowed to grow up with their bodies fully intact, they deserve a chance to learn how to love themselves the way that they are, the way they were born, the way that God beautifully crafted them in their mother’s womb.”

A former high-ranking police chief says he is confident that the various law enforcement agencies on the hunt for UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson’s killer will eventually find him, given the vast number of officials involved in the search and the effectual coordination between the agencies. 

John Ryan, who served as chief of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Police Department, told Fox News Digital that the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) in New York is heading the investigation along with the NYPD, and they are coordinating with police on the ground in Georgia — where the killer may be now — as well as the Atlanta FBI field office.

“There’s no better group of law enforcement professionals there than the New York FBI Joint terrorism Task Force, and it’s made up of 52 agencies with the FBI being the lead. So having them weigh in on this, there is going to be a big asset,” Ryan said. 

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He said the agencies are also coordinating with the U.S. Marshalls New York/New Jersey Regional Fugitive Task Force, which has a long history of providing assistance and expertise to other law enforcement agencies in support of fugitive investigations.

“The U.S. Marshals Regional Fugitive Task Force are very, very good at tracking people, and I’m confident that they will be able to find him and bring them into custody,” Ryan told Fox News Digital. “And they do it every day. There’s nobody better at it than they do.”

Ryan, a 45-year veteran who previously served as lieutenant task force commander with the JTTF in New York, said that the NYPD and the Port Authority Police Department, as well as other local agencies, provide personnel to the Marshals Service for these types of cases.

“So they’re bringing all of their assets, their knowledge and their capabilities to track the movements of this person,” Ryan said. “And they’re very good at what they do. They do it every day and their capabilities are among the very best.”

He said investigators have already made impressive gains in accumulating evidence, and that that will continue as they close in on the cold-blooded killer. 

A Peak Designs backpack found by the NYPD last in a leaf pile in Central Park on Friday, Dec. 6, 20204. The bag appears to match the description of the one worn by the gunman who killed United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson on Wednesday morning. (Obtained by New York Post)

For instance, NYPD investigators found a backpack in Central Park West on Friday that they believe belonged to the suspect, a law enforcement source told Fox News Digital. It will be taken to a lab in Queens for forensic testing. 

Investigators are also now testing for DNA evidence on a water bottle that they believe the assassin dropped after he took off down an alleyway after ambushing Thompson outside the Hilton Midtown at 57th Street and 6th Avenue. 

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A cellphone, also believed to belong to the gunman, was found in the alleyway he used to escape, while the assassin also left behind three shell casings with the words “deny,” “depose” and “delay,” enscribed on them. The words are similar to a popular phrase within the health care industry — “delay, deny, defend.”

“The fact that they were able to locate all of those items should give people some degree of comfort, knowing how thorough the NYPD is in investigating these crimes and other crimes,” Ryan said. 

The NYPD were observed in Central Park on Saturday, searching for clues on day 4 of the manhunt.

Police said on Friday that the suspect had likely left New York for Atlanta, having arrived in New York from Atlanta before the attack.

Ryan said investigators will be scouring over surveillance footage on the buses too. 

A map shows where a backpack was found in Central Park. The backpack is believed to belong to the suspect in the killing of Brian Thompson, CEO of UnitedHealth. (Fox News Digital)

“The big question out there is what this individual’s motive was for targeting the United Health care executive, so they’ll be looking at that,” Ryan continued.

“The next thing is, were there other potential targets out there that that need to be protected? And then the other question that comes up were any other weapons that this person may have had access to.”

“And again, that comes with identifying who he is and then building out a profile as to whether or not he had weapons known to him. Family members anybody else that would have provided him access to the firearms.”

Ryan added that the fact that writings were left on the shell cases indicates that the killer was motivated by personal reasons, as opposed to being a third party hit man. 

UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was shot and killed in Midtown Manhattan on Wednesday morning. (Businesswire | NYPD Crimestoppers)

“It was the result of a grievance that he had, so he was basically highlighting why he did what he did, and he left the cartridges there to be found,” Ryan said. “So it was his way of messaging why he did what he did.”

He added the assassination has other companies on high alert for potential threats to their executives.  

“A ripple effect of this will play out in every company’s executive office given the fact it occurred in Midtown Manhattan in broad daylight there. It will definitely have an impact on all the people that work in the city or live in the city.”

Fox News’ Christina Coulter contributed to this report.