AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 YEARS
NOTE FROM BARNEY: Linda’s celebration of life is Saturday, January 20 at 11:00 AM at Santa Rosa Christian Church. In next week’s article, I will provide you with a link in case you want to join online.
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What if I told you I’ve walked around the world, at the equator, nearly four times? It’s true…or at least the equivalent of it. An average person with an average stride, walks about 3.8 miles each day. If you live eighty years, you’ll walk 110,000 miles in your lifetime. The earth’s circumference is 24,901 miles. During the span of our lives, we will have walked around the world, nearly four-and-a-half times!
Even if all the continents were connected, doesn’t that sound impossible? But walking 3.8 miles each day? That’s easily doable for most of us. It’s sort of like the old joke: How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. Great deeds can be accomplished in small steps.
There’s a word for this quality: “perseverance.” Miriam-Webster defines it as “continued effort to do or achieve something despite difficulties, failure, or opposition.” Doesn’t this describe our lives as believers? The enemy throws obstacles in our way—temptation, discouragement, and tests of faith, attempting to stop us on our walk with Jesus. But the key is to keep moving ahead, even in those two-steps-forward, one-step-back kind of days.
Hebrews 10:36 tells us “to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.” Hebrews 12:1 adds, “let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.”
At times life can feel overwhelming—as I’ve discovered the past few months in losing Linda. Although I feel abundantly blessed, to be honest, some days I just want to sit, and stare into space, and mumble incoherently to myself. But persevering means I press on, taking each day in bite-size chunks, until I eventually discover I’ve eaten an elephant.
Perhaps you feel as if you’re facing impossible challenges in the year ahead. Just remember two words: start walking (and don’t quit). Some days of walking are easier—level ground, or even better, all downhill. But then come those days of continual uphill climbing. By day’s end, you feel as if you’ve scaled El Capitan. It’s all part of our marathon through life. But when we reach the end of our journey, an unbelievable reward awaits us. All because we were willing to spiritually hike 110,000 miles, and not give up. Simply put one foot in front of the other, and take one more step, and then another, and then another, and…
Principle: If we persevere in our journey through life, we will eventually receive a reward.
Ponder:
What challenges do you potentially see in the year ahead?
What helps you to persevere when you feel like giving up?
Pursue: For a deeper dive, study Hebrews 10:19-39.
Prayer: Lord Jesus, thank you for walking with me on my journey through life. When I feel like quitting, help me persevere.