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Last week we took our three granddaughters to Spring Canyon, near Buena Vista, Colorado, and one of the highlights for them is the time on the ponds. There are watercraft of many types they can paddle around in, and there is fishing! By Thursday afternoon Kesley and Shirah had each caught a fish. Liana, the youngest, age 10, hadn’t. So she worked at it for about an hour after the picnic Thursday. Nothing. I tried to explain that when you go fishing, sometimes you catch something, and sometimes you don’t. But that didn’t help her disappointment. 

At dinner she said, I want to go back to the ponds after dinner. I have to catch a fish. So she and Kesley got some bread from the kitchen went down to the ponds, found a cane pole (Kesley’s favorite kind—very superior to rods and reels because of its simplicity!), and…Liana caught her fish! We had no tools to clean it, so we just bagged it, froze it, took it home, and ate it there.

Persistence. It’s a trait that will serve her well. Moses led the Israelites through 10 plagues and 40 years to leave Egypt and reach the border of the promised land. Ezra and Haggai pushed through and rebuilt the temple after a long delay. Nehemiah finished the wall through opposition in 52 days. Jesus hung in with the 12 for three years.  

Persistence. Persistence is a measure of faith. I’ll write more about that tomorrow.

And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him. (Hebrews 11.6, NLT)

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne. Think of all the hostility he endured from sinful people; then you won’t become weary and give up. (Hebrews 12.1 – 3, NLT)