For Isaac Ochoa there will always be faith and hope

No hope this Easter? Feeling gloomy over the economy? Stress over finances and family overwhelming any faith you've ever had? Not really looking forward to attending church on Easter Sunday because frankly, you don't see the point and are wondering what God is up to these days? Meet Isaac Ochoa.

No hope this Easter?

Feeling gloomy over the economy?

Stress over finances and family overwhelming any faith you've ever had?

Not really looking forward to attending church on Easter Sunday because frankly, you don't see the point and are wondering what God is up to these days?

Meet Isaac Ochoa.

He is the eternal optimist. He is a man of faith.

No matter the challenges he has faced - homelessness, medical, personal - the 51-year-old marches ahead with a smile and a belief there are better times ahead.

"I believe in optimism," he says, naturally, with a smile.

He wears a tie that features some of the names of the books of the Bible.

"You like it?" he says when complimented about the tie. "You can have it. I'll give it to you right now."

Ochoa stopped in The Press this week to chat with reporter Tom Hasslinger, who wrote about him in a story on a homeless vigil in November. He likes to say "sir" when he chats with a man. He speaks quickly. He gets excited in a way that kids might when they hit a home run. He is passionate about life, despite his trials and tribulations.

He talks of divorce and a broken heart. He talks of being beaten by a group of men because he refused to use his marital arts skills to fight another man. He shows the obituary for his father, who died in a car accident on May 10, 1963, when Isaac was just a toddler. He speaks of being broke, losing pretty much all he had, something he never thought could happen.

"Believe me, when I tell you it was scary and doubtful to trust after losing everything," he says.

But he never speaks ill of anyone. He'll recount the stories without anger or bitterness.

"I've always tried to do right by people," Ochoa says.

He still doesn't have much. He's been without a home for more than a year. He drives a van he borrowed from friends in Spokane.

Yet, he delights in telling others how wonderful everyone has been to him since he arrived in Coeur d'Alene. He'll explain how the people at St. Vincent de Paul were nice and helped him find a place to stay. He'll tell you about a veterans representative "whose heart is worth more than gold."

"The people of Coeur d'Alene opened their arms and hearts to do their very best to save my life," he said.

From a bag he carries, Richard Ochoa pulls out a binder filled with pictures, articles and certificates. It is his life history, he says with a laugh.

"I'm showing you mostly what I'm proud of," he says.

The certificates are of different titles he has earned, different jobs he has held. The Open Karate Invitational. A nurses aide. Truck driver. Security guard. There is a picture of Private Ochoa during his stint in the military. He didn't graduate from high school, but earned a GED.

"I wasn't good in school when I was young," he says. "But I love education."

He also loves to give to others.

He's on his way to Texas, where he'll undergo testing to see if he can give a kidney to his ailing brother, Luther, someone he hasn't seen in years.

"I am my brother's keeper, and it seems that my stopover in Coeur d'Alene has given me the strength I needed to take on his task to save his life," he wrote.

Isaac Ochoa says he believes in God. He says he believes in Jesus Christ and his resurrection that Christians will celebrate today.

On this Easter Sunday, Isaac Ochoa doesn't have much, but he has faith and he has hope.

And that, he says, will see him through to a better tomorrow.