Half a League Onward

What did Columbus do, for example? He sailed in a ship, that was all! Many a mariner has done the same before, but no man had held on a westward course so obstinately, so persistently or so long." - Frank W Boreham

Sometimes it is the simple things that are the hardest.  Road blocks are thrown in our path, people mock or discourage, others may not mock but in their own helplessness have no assistance to offer.  So then what?  How many people get to where they are going by turning around, or plunking themselves on the ground and say to themselves, "I'll just stay here"?

Columbus day... now there was a fellow who was stubborn and single minded.  It's a characteristic that seems to be as foreign in our culture as the New World was to Europe at the time.  In my observation, most people who have done things worth doing were told all along the way that "it can't be done".  And the rest of the people believe it and quit.  It's frustrating to say the least.  Of course we would all like to quit from time to time, but it's that characteristic of stubbornness that makes us hang on.  Hang on when every bit of our mind and energy have forgotten why we hang on... just a memory that it is the right thing to do.  For we each face those times in life when we know something is right, and though we are plagued by criticism, rebuke, failure, or any number of a thousand reasons to give up, we either press on anyway or we throw in the towel.

Often times Satan taunts us with these thoughts or words to give up.  And over time under that constant barrage, it's hard not to buckle;  like a ship still sailing West in the midst of a great storm.  But press on we should!  Living a life fully devoted to God does not come as an easy matter, nor was it promised to be so.  It's work, always upstream, always with the wind in our face.  Thank God for moments of rest, He knows we need them, but before long it's right back to it.  We live this way to bring glory to a God who has done more for us than we can ever fully understand.  We do it out of love.  And, thankfully, we do not go forth in our own strength!

"Wishing cannot take the place of working! Aspiration is excellent; but perspiration, too, must play its part before the summit is attained. I press towards the mark for the prize of the upward call! says Paul. I press!"  -  Frank W Boreham