It’s been a frustrating afternoon. I wanted to mow the lawn, but the lawnmower wouldn’t start. I pulled and pulled on the starter cord, but not a single sound of life came from the mower. Diann hovered around, concerned that I would lose my patience in some ugly way. I explained all of the possibilities to her of what could be wrong. Then she calmly and quietly asked, "Could it be out of gas?"

The nerve of her to suggest such an obvious solution! But I humbled myself enough to unscrew the gas tank cap and check. No gas!

As I filled the tank I tried to salvage my ego by explaining the difference between a 2-cycle and a 4-cycle engine, and how in a 2-cycle engine you need to add a special oil to the gasoline. She responded, "I don’t know anything about that. All I know is that it needs gas."

Speaking of frustrations, I’m sorry to hear that you’ve had some major ones lately. I’m sorry but not surprised. The fact is, challenges, problems and troubles come to all people, including people who’ve decided to get serious about being God’s people. You might think that people who have turned to God would be given some measure of special protection from the bumps of life. Not so. If this were the case I’m sure there would be no shortage of people turning to God, but it would be out of self-interest and not out of love for God.

God doesn’t make life tension-free for the person who has a relationship with Him. In fact, sometimes I think God’s people have more than their share of troubles. This makes sense if you believe in an evil personal force in the world that’s out to sabotage the good God wants done. But God’s good plan for His people, and for you, can prevail; it just takes patience and perseverance.

I’ve discovered that the patience to endure seems to be a necessary characteristic for anyone who wants to see God’s plan unfold for his or her life. It’s easy to start a race well, and almost anyone can do it. But ending the race well takes endurance. Opportunities remain unfulfilled dreams unless perseverance is applied, because perseverance is the magic ingredient that turns dreams into reality.

Does perseverance always pay? No, at least not in the sense that you always get the results you want. If results were guaranteed, it really wouldn’t take perseverance, because part of perseverance is the built-in risk that things may not turn out the way we want.

I think we overrate success and achievement anyway. A smart and loving parent doesn’t insist that a child come in first in a competition, just that the child does his or her best and learns some important lessons in the process. When I played board games with my children I didn’t care if they won or lost but how they played the game. God, as the perfect parent, has the same expectations of me as I play the game of life. Sure, I yearn to turn a dream into a reality. It’s OK to play to win. Still, I’ve come to the conclusion that God is more interested in what I’m learning through the striving than He is in my arriving!

The challenges and difficulties of life are opportunities to express trust in God that He can work good through anything. This is, at least in part, what faith in God is all about. And faith applied for a long time is perseverance: "a long obedience in the same direction," is the way one author put it. Resisting the temptation to give up and, instead, continuing to persevere makes our trust in God tangible, visible for all to see.

No, a new and deeper faith in God should not be seen as a ticket to the fast lane or to easy street for getting things done. It often seems to me that God has two speeds: slow and slower! I’m frequently tempted to run ahead of Him, but He keeps insisting on my following Him. I’ve observed that most of what God does in His creation is done slowly: the changing of the seasons, the growth of a plant, the bird incubating her eggs. So have patience and perseverance! God is working in your life, and things will happen in His good time.

I’d better go. We’re going to have fresh tomatoes for supper and I have to pick them. It seems ages ago that we planted the six-inch spindly plants. But good things come to those who wait!

A fellow seeker after truth,
Dave