We all have moments when we want to quit. The battle we face may seem too big, or too long. We begin to grow weary and that exhaustion weakens our resolve and wears on our thoughts. We begin to imagine that there is an easier path than the one we are traveling. Our pace slows, and we can even choose to simply stop where we are. Many people remain stuck, sitting alongside the path of their life, unable to go any further.

As I write this, my thoughts keep coming back to Sailor Gutzler. She is a 7 year old girl who recently survived a plane crash in Kentucky. The lone survivor, having lost her family in the crash, she freed herself from the wreckage and walked a great distance through some of the worst terrain to find help. She was not trained for the path before her, which was overrun with obstacles, nor was she prepared for the journey. However, she pressed on through the briars, ditches, and downed trees, and through her emotional pain and trauma, to reach a place of safety. Her story is amazing!

The past few days, I faced some challenges and obstacles that I would have rather avoided. At times, I felt like I wanted to avoid the path in front of me and sit down for a season. Then, I thought of Sailor, knowing that my journey and obstacles are nothing compared to what she faced, and I kept moving. Then, I thought of Jesus, and the journey he faced, and found more inspiration. Then, God reminded me that Jesus is walking with me, going before me, and giving me strength for the journey, and I allowed the Holy Spirit to renew my strength. Somewhere between the tenacity of a 7 year old girl, and the great grace of God, I lost my weariness, and moved forward .

Many people are talking about how miraculous Sailor’s successful journey was. I agree. I also am overwhelmed with the miraculous strength she found to press on, to overcome. I do not know if she had an awareness of God as she pushed through her circumstances, but I do know that God was aware of her, and empowering her to keep moving.

We all face unwanted and difficult things, some are far worse than others. Many times, we dig deep and try to find the strength to keep going, yet that strength can be quite elusive. Then, we discover a strength that exceeds our situation, a power that gives us more than a hand, it lifts us up on wings like eagles. God’s strength has no limits, and the Holy Spirit shares that strength with us.

The great preacher Charles Spurgeon once said, “I have a great need for Christ; I have a great Christ for my need.” No matter what we are facing, God is bigger. No matter how difficult the task, God’s power is stronger. No matter how great our need, God’s willingness to meet it is greater. We are not alone, and we are not left to our own strength to continue. When we hope in the Lord, God renews our strength with his inexhaustible supply.

I thank God for grace, power, and hope. I am thankful for Sailor’s tenacious witness. I pray that God continues to strengthen her for the difficult journey ahead, and hope that one day she will see how her actions, in the face of great pain and adversity, inspired the nation and the world.

Let us not grow weary. Let us not faint. Let us hope in the Lord and be strong and courageous.

“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his might power.” – Ephesians 6:10

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Saturday night, my love of winter was put to the test. My wife and I enjoyed a wonderful hockey game thanks to the gift of a couple of tickets to the game. When the game was over, we went out for a bite to eat, and a little more time to spend together on our date. I locked the car and made my way to the front door of the restaurant, but did not quite make it. In spite of a warm evening with no snow, there was still just enough black ice to catch me off guard and bring me to the ground. It was a hard fall. My hip, knee and back continue to attest to that.

As I gained my footing and limped my way inside, I reflected on the comments my friends made. I could hear them ask me, “How do you feel about winter now? It’s not so much fun when you are hurting, is it?”

I continued on into the restroom to check the bruising and to clean up a bit. The questions continued to revolve in my head. I looked into the mirror as I started to wash the parking lot dirt from my hands and thought, “Hurting is not fun, but ice is a reality of life where I choose to live. In spite of the fall, I still love winter.” I smiled, and gingerly walked back to the table to enjoy dinner with my wife.

Winter has ice, snow and cold in my corner of the world. However, summer has dehydration, sunburn, sun stroke. People fall on ice and many are restricted because of the weather, but people struggle to breathe in the heat and are often forced to stay in because of high levels of ozone. Winter, summer, and everything in between has the potential for pain and difficulty, but it also has the opportunity for joy and celebration.

Life is not safe. It is a truth that we work hard to avoid, but we ignore it to our detriment. When we believe that we can create a safe existence if we just work hard enough at our self-protection, we exchange freedom and joy for a false sense of comfort. More than just the struggles that come from the annual seasons, the seasons of life are filled with similar challenges and opportunities. We can choose to spend our days trying to be safe, or we can live our days experiencing life.

There is obviously room for wisdom and good choices, but that is not an excuse to hide from life. There is so much to experience and precious little time to experience it. There just isn’t enough room left to allow fear and negativity to consume our time. I am not going to venture out into the cold in shorts and a t-shirt, but I am also not going to lock myself inside and miss the crisp beauty of this time of year, and this time of my life.

We may not all like winter’s ice, or summer’s heat, but we can all love life, love our lives. We can face the days we are given, not with fear and avoidance, but with joy and celebration. Here, in the midst of the season where we celebrate the great love of God given to transform the world; a season where we remember Mary and Joseph who faced great adversity and the infant Christ who surrendered safety for something greater, may we find the joy, the wonder and the power of life. We may limp, tender from our falls, but we will limp joyfully forward into the future God continues to create for us.

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Jesus, nearing his crucifixion, asked the disciples if they were able to drink from the cup that He would drink from. Would they be willing to pursue the path that they were on, even if the end was not pleasant? The disciples were sure that they could do it. In His presence and the passion of the moment it seemed they could do anything. In the end, they were able, but it was more difficult than they ever expected.

We all want to be finishers in the race. We want to experience and achieve all that God plans for us, but to do that, we will need to develop a tenacity of faith that refuses to be satisfied with anything less that God’s best. We must allow God to grow a faith within us that presses on even when the way seems impossible.

Mark, the Gospel writer, tells the story of a woman who pressed through the crowds and through the standards of the day to touch Jesus. In fact, she said, “If only I may touch His clothes, I shall be made well.” (Mark 5:28) She knew that the power to heal her body was in Jesus. He was her answer, and if she would keep pressing toward Him, she would be healed. She knew that her illness marked her as unclean and that she was not to touch anyone, and certainly not a holy man. Yet, she was undaunted in her pursuit. She simply would not leave until she was whole. That is tenacious faith.

This is the kind of faith God wants to build in you. It is not stubbornness or some form of hostility toward change. It is a deep assurance of the promises of God that well up within us until we say, “I will not be satisfied with anything less than all that God has for me. I will not be deterred. I will not give up. I will not let go of God or His promises.”

This was also the attitude of Jacob’s heart when he wrestled with God. In the book of Genesis we find the story of a man accustomed to deception and avoidance, who ultimately decides to passionately hold onto God, whatever the cost. As he wrestles with the Lord, he boldly declares, “I will not let You go unless You bless me.” This is not selfishness, nor foolishness; it is the heart cry of a person of tenacious faith. It is the declaration of trust in the promises and character of God that inspires an undaunted commitment to lay hold of God and never let go.

A nameless woman pressed on, through physical and social barriers. Jacob held on until he received God’s blessing. What about you? Are you going part of the way, or are you going all the way to the end? Will you commit yourself to developing a tenacity of faith that refuses to be satisfied with anything less than God’s very best? Will you let God build within you a radical, unrelenting, uncompromising, no-retreating faith that will carry you across the finish line? Will you respond to the question, “How far are you willing to go with God,” with the tenacious faith that says, “All the way. All the way!”

May God bless you with an abundance of tenacious faith.

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