Yes, Mr. Edmond of Wheaton College often used to say this to his students. Say it to yourself and to your friends!
It's too early for bailing out on Christ and His good plan. So true, believer. It’s too early for that. Quitting, and not working, or not serving Christ is so overrated (understatement)! Why have things here not end well for ya? Today is not the day for quitting! Be willing to stand alone and on-fire for God. Press on, Buckeroo!
It’s a weird day and it seems to be getting weirder out there. We certainly face obstacles and difficulties in so many ways. Have you endured some betrayals, some pain, some failures or opposition? Get up and press on. Life here is sort of like running through the Sahara Desert, but the Scriptures help encourage us and the biblical writers employ many terms to describe the quality of character that it takes to endure until the end. Steadfastness, faithfulness, perseverance, keeping on etc. The basic idea is for us followers of Jesus Christ to keep on following Christ all the way no matter what happens around us.
Have you heard the story of Mr. Shizo Kanakuri? He is regarded as Japan's “father of the marathon.” He so wanted to endure and complete the men's long distance race during the 1920 Olympic Games in Antwerp, Belgium. He was motivated to the max.
And he started out real well, but it got real hard and he fell out in a garden. There were 68 starters in that 1912 race, and just 34 would reach the finish line in the punishing conditions there. One Portuguese runner was hospitalized and died the next day, that was the first reported death during an Olympics.
Kanakuri was about two-thirds of the way through when he stumbled off course and fell into a garden area. Many reports then suggested that he passed out, perhaps because of a heat stroke, though others suggested he simply wandered into an outdoor party. Regardless, the race continued, and the Japanese runner found himself at a home on a farm along that race route. It was owned by the Petra family. The kind family fed him raspberry juice, fruits, and cinnamon rolls and gave him some new clothes and a place to sleep. He was very blessed, “He’d never run abroad before and was suddenly in a strange country and he had no idea what to do. So when the family offered to help, he simply took it.”
Kanakuri had to grapple with all the disappointment he felt from what had happened and the shame that was taking hold in his heart. He wrote in his journal the next day:
“It’s the morning after my defeat. My heart is aching with regret for the rest of my life. It was the most significant day of my life. But failure teaches success, and I can only wait for the day with fair weather after the rain so that I can clean up my shame. If people want to laugh, laugh. I showed the lack of physical strength Japanese people have and their immature skills. I can’t fulfill this burden but dying is easy, and living is hard. To wipe off this shame, I will work with all my strength to brush up my marathon skills and raise the prestige of our country.”
Race organizers, meanwhile, couldn’t locate Kanakuri. He never notified Olympic or Swedish officials of his whereabouts. He instead quietly left the country and returned to Japan. With his whereabouts unknown, authorities considered him to be missing, and urban legends grew around the country’s lost marathoner, many suggesting he had been running around the country for years, in search of the finish line.
It’s not clear why the Swedes couldn’t solve the curious case of the missing marathoner. He was hardly in hiding and resurfaced to compete at two ensuing Summer Olympics. He placed 16th at the 1920 Games but failed to finish the Olympic marathon in 1924.
The story of his disappearance started gaining attention around the 50th anniversary of the 1912 Games. The missing Japanese runner had become much more famous than any of the race’s medalists, a folk legend many were surprised to learn was alive and well in his home country.
In 1967, Swedish officials arranged for Kanakuri to return to Stockholm, where he was reunited with the Petra family and also invited to finish the marathon.
“When I went over to Sweden, I was surprised to find that he was very much more famous there than in Japan,” Sayama said. “Everybody knows about him for going missing.”
Guess what.. later on he came out of his hidden life and he even finished his race.
They held a ceremony, which was covered heavily in the Swedish media. When Mr. Shizo Kanakuri finally crossed the finish line, his time was announced as 54 years 8 months 6 days 5 hours 32 minutes 20.3 seconds — an unofficial time but surely in the running for slowest marathon ever.
You too can finish your race. You're called to Christ -- to know and worship Him. What specifically are you called to do by way of service for His glory? I say choose to endure to the end. Please start out with Christ, choose His pace and lead for you.. and He’ll indeed help you get over the finish line. Go for it.. go for Him. Hear His words, Well done!
What are some of the most well-known Bible verses about endurance?
What are some Bible verses about endurance?
What are some of the most well-known Bible verses about keeping on with it.. with Him as Lord. You know with Jesus regarding perseverance?
What are some Bible verses about perseverance?
Need some Bible verses about trials?
God taught us believers (and is still teaching us) to stay with and totally loyal to Jesus through it all – He said no one having put his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the Kingdom of God. Let not any sin, or idol, or pleasure, or money, or friend get in the way of your relationship with Christ. Will you endure in Christ until the end?
Paul instructed Timothy to keep on going in the face of trials. You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. What do I say when people ask me, hey Kurt, how are you doing?
I respond with, I’m holding my course or I'm soldiering on. Yes we soldier on but not by our own power, don't we? We keep going. Later Paul added to Timothy this..
“Remember that Jesus Christ, of the seed of David, was raised from the dead according to my gospel, for which I suffer trouble as an evildoer, even to the point of chains; but the word of God is not chained. Therefore I endure all things for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. This is a faithful saying: For if we died with Him, We shall also live with Him. If we endure, We shall also reign with Him. If we deny Him, He also will deny us. If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself.” 2 Timothy 2:8-13 nkjv
But hey, the Word of God is not chained.. not even in our day. Paul goes on..
"I suffer to the extent of being chained like a criminal. But the word of God cannot be chained! 10For this reason I endure all things for the sake of the elect, so that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory. This is a trustworthy saying: If we died with Him, we will also live with Him. if we endure, we will also reign with Him; if we deny Him, He will also deny us.." 2 Timothy 2:9-12 (Always see the context)
Remember how James encouraged us all.. blessed is the man who endures temptation for when he has been approved he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love him.
Now, the Bible word for endure in Matthew 24 is a word which means to stay or remain, to lock your feet in place and not move. So the picture Jesus used to describe those who endure is those who are determined to stay under the load until Christ lifts the load. It refers to submitting to Authority, it’s a specific directive or command, it’s choosing to stay in a certain spot – in the will of God.
Even if others have moved on or have moved away, we are to hold on to the Lord. You might say that today while we're watching all the good values of our world being decimated we are not going there! We are to lockstep in the place with the Lord leading, yes in all we know is right from the Bible. No matter what else is happening wrong in this world, we shall not be moved in today's terminology.
We might say It's the person who hangs on to the end who shall be saved. That's not easy. It takes a lot of strength to hang on. We often think of endurances as passive, but it's not passive. I promise you it isn’t. Did you ever endure a lecture from a boring teacher? That's passive.
What about suffering through an all-night shift? In cases like that you just grin and bear it. That's passive endurance, but Jesus is not talking about passive endurance in Matthew 24. God is calling for Christian endurance and it's a command for Christ's followers to take a stand. Stand therefore! He wants us to stay standing--to push against the evil current and refuse to be moved, to hold firmly to Jesus and to God-given convictions. This adds to godly character and is a good witness.
Even when it seems like the whole world is against the believer, just Stand. Paul wrote to the earliest believers these words, He commanded us..
"Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand." Ephesians 6:10-13 kjv
What have you been standing for, or attacking?
Did you know that in the Bible there is no instruction for us to go attack. It's true. The instruction is for us to stand firm in the ground God has given to us. Yes, on the ground that we have in Jesus. We didn't get that ground ourselves. It was given to us by Almighty God. We aren't passive, but His blessings are free. He doesn't ask us to do anything except to stand strong and defend our territory.
There's no place in the Bible where we attack! We stand strong, and standing is a big challenge. Not as easy as falling or rolling off a log. You know why it's hard? Well, because we want to attack. Our fleshly nature wants to. Almighty God basically says, I want you to have the endurance and the strength and the courage and the steadfastness to believe what you biblically believe, to know what you believe, and to stand strong in that biblical belief.. no matter what anybody else is saying or doing.
Let others believe what they want to. Try to help em if you can. Some of it so crazy what people believe today. You wonder how any intelligent American can believe any of it--any of the fake news being shoved upon them? And yet, here we are in the strength of our stance. It takes stamina to stand, to walk in Christ, and to run the race before you.
Have you ever run across the Sahara before? Have you ever run in the Olympics or through any small or big desert. Guess what.. it'll takes some spiritual and physical stamina. That’s a word having to do with resilience. We believers are not only to merely endure, but we are to endure until the end with Christ.
Stand firm in the faith, yes, in what you rightly believe from the Word. Stand strong in Christ daily. Stand in what convictions He gave you, and in who you're committed to. In who you're called to. Don't be swayed or be flakey, or even wavering by all that's going on around you. Focus on Christ not on the circumstances. You don't have to attack. Just stand upright in Christ.. against the sin and this corrupt world system. Against the false messages, against the evil, and all wrong-doin’s. Stand strong in the One who stood for you. Act like real men, men! Act like real women, women. Enjoy your childhood, children (keep going towards Jesus and the Bible, boys and girls). We don't have to use our own strength to walk right, because we are to pray like the prophet Isaiah prayed in Isaiah 33:2 - in faith and then walk.
Need some Bible verses about patience?
What does it mean to endure hardship (2 Timothy 4:5)?
How can we let patience have its perfect work (James 1:4)?
Want some Bible verses about hardships?
How does the “testing of your faith” produce perseverance (James 1:3)?
"O Lord, be gracious to us; we have waited [expectantly] for You. Be the arm of Your servants every morning [that is, their strength and their defense], Our salvation also in the time of trouble." Isaiah 33:2 amp
"But to us, O Lord, be merciful, for we have waited for you. Be our strength each day and our salvation in the time of trouble." Isaiah 33:2 tlb
Every morning pray in Jesus’ Name. Isn't that a great prayer from Isaiah? You can personalize it too. Lord Jesus, please be my strength today, yes, every morning. We can claim Isaiah's promise for those who believe, and who wait on the Lord. They shall renew their strength. For those of us living in the world of the end Jesus' words are called to keep on going with Him as Lord.
As the signs of the times are exploding around us we’re to run through the smoke, we're to run through the trembling earth, through the loud, churning, spinning battlefield and through the agitation of our age. We’re to run back to Jesus. We cannot stop until Jesus comes. We are called. This highway of holiness, this road of righteousness is a road that has no off-ramps in sight. It's a road straight to where God has called us..each of us to be.
I like that term "patience" even thought it isn't comfortable to act like, but wouldn’t the 'endurance of Job' be more accurate?
Is there ever suffering or pain when we believers endure on through the trials? Yes. Sometimes there is, but keep going with Him anyway.
What does it mean that love is patient?
What does it mean that God will fight our battles (Exodus 14:14; Deuteronomy 1:30)?
The Apostle Paul said, "I do all this for the sake of the gospel, so that I may share in its blessings. Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way as to take the prize. Everyone who competes in the games trains with strict discipline. They do it for a crown that is perishable, but we do it for a crown that is imperishable." 1 Corinthians 9:23-25
What are some Bible verses about suffering?
What are some Bible verses about failure?
What does James 1:12 mean when it says, “Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial”?
What does it mean to be patient in tribulation (Romans 12:12)?
Why does God allow us to go through trials and tribulations?
What does the Bible say about dealing with chronic pain?
What does it mean that while we were still sinners Christ died for us (Romans 5:8)?
How long did Job suffer? How much time passed between Job’s losing everything and God’s restoration?
"And Jesus answered and said to them: “Take heed that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. 6 And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. 7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of sorrows. 9 “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake. 10 And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. 11 Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. 12 And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. 13 But he who endures to the end shall be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come." Matthew 24:2-15 nkjv
It’s fun to check out the original Greek language in God’s word with some good helps. The word “you” can be either plural or singular when we see that word “you” in our English books, and sometimes we don't know what to think when we hear people speak this word.. until we see the whole context. But in the Greek language “you” can tell us how the Greek language is different from English.
For instance, Jesus used the plural “you” in these verses above (in Matthew 24). When you go through this text you'll understand what I'm saying about this here. Jesus was sometimes using “you” in the plural in Matthew 24. "..Jesus answered and said to them: ‘Take heed that no one deceives you’”. He's talking to the group here in Matthew 24:6, “you” plural will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you plural are not troubled. This is the plural “you” here, and then Matthew 24:9 "Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake.” but then there's a shift in Matthew 24:13 and it's a wonderful shift too. The word translated he in that verse is not plural but singular, "But he who endures to the end shall be saved.”
Do you like that? We don't endure as a group regarding this, we endure as individuals. The “you” here is singular, Jesus said but “you” singular endure to the end--and you singular will be saved. Jesus spoke to you and to me as individuals, he was encouraging each of us to hang in there and keep on hanging in there ..keep on walking standing in faith. Keep waling in victory for as long as it takes. Yes, enduring as a follower of Jesus requires not only strength but also perennial personal stamina.
So don't be afraid to go the distance with God as he empowers you. Take your stand for the Lord and what you know is right. Study what God has communicated through His word and then keep standing no matter what comes your way. Simply remain steadfast until the end by His power for His glory. Yes, it does indeed take determination every single day. We need Christ every moment of every day.. until the end! We are saved by faith for free, and then we follow Christ all the way home to heaven.
Is there a difference between joy and happiness?
What does it mean to count it all joy (James 1:2)? While in a trial? Sure. Rejoice in the Lord, not in your problem or pain.
What are some Bible verses about affliction?
Got some pain or long-term suffering -- what are some Bible verses about character development?
What are some Bible verses about pain?
What does it mean that love always perseveres (1 Corinthians 13:7)?
What is the meaning of “despising the shame” in Hebrews 12:2?
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| Photo by Simon Berger |
Are you into endurance? Charlie Engle is and he talked about his own endurance mission: Running across the Sahara Desert.
That’s what he did. Yes, Charlie Engle was no stranger to a great challenge. The 46-year-old endurance runner turned his life around from being a drug and alcohol addict to living sober since 1992. He refocused his addictive personality toward running, and eventually toward entering marathons, then into ultramarathons – adventure races, endurance missions. His latest was: Running across the Sahara Desert. In February, 2007, Charlie and his teammates Ray Zahab and Kevin Lin became the first people in all of history to run across the entire Sahara Desert, covering over 4,300 miles in what became a 111 consecutive day effort.
There was a movie documenting their great feat, "Running the Sahara" (produced by James Moll and narrated by Matt Damon). It's an incredible summation of what was surely one of the most difficult running challenges anyone's ever set out to go for. Charlie then became a motivational speaker and a television producer, at the Big Sur Marathon where he was showing "Running the Sahara" and running Big Sur for fun (clocking a cool 3:25 on the course). Where did the idea to run across the Sahara come from? Kevin, Ray and I were racing against each other in the Jungle Marathon, a 125-mile race through the Amazon at the end of 2004. Ray had just done the Trans 333 in Niger [a 333-kilometer race]. He loves the desert, and said to me, "Hey I don't think anyone's ever run across the Sahara, are you interested?" And I was like, "Ya, sure!" We both found no evidence of anyone ever doing running it before, something that's almost unheard of in this day and age because people are always tackling the next big thing. I mean, I've joked about doing Badwater on a pogo stick with my arms tied behind my back, just to be the first person to do it. But running across the Sahara—that was a pretty straightforward thing. We estimated it would be about 3,000 miles, but it ended up being a little over 4,600 miles. The maps and details just don't exist. How did it then come together?
I'll be honest, I never actually believed it was going to happen. It started as one of those crazy ideas that you get to take ownership of, but the reality usually is that it's probably never going to happen so you don't have to worry really about it. We did a scouting trip in October, 2005. I had been so focused on the planning, getting the sponsorship dollars and everything, that I kind of forgot about the physical aspect of it.
Then one day I had James Moll and Matt Damon involved in the project. I woke up one morning about five months before we left and said, "Oh shit. I actually have to run across this desert." So how did your training change? Ray is a personal trainer—that's his background, so I let him create the program. I do almost everything based on time instead of mileage, but my training really picked up an incredible amount. I reached a point where I was running as much as 25 and 30 hours per week. At a 10-minute pace (I'd normally be running faster than that), I was doing 200-mile weeks at a minimum for about four months. Before that, getting ready for races like Badwater, I was probably running half of that ... like 10-12 hours a week. More than anything else I needed to be able to get up and do this day after day after day. Ray had me doing back-to-back days of four-hour runs, three to four days in a row. A couple months before we left, I did 10 days in a row running four hours a day. And what about your nutrition while training, and then during the expedition?
I had to adjust the nutrition leading up to the run. I tried to teach my body how to eat and process 5, 6, 7,000 calories a day. Your body would just shut down if you tried that right away. Here in the U.S. I ate anything I could get my hands on, like chocolate cake and ice cream. I ate everything and anything I wanted for the month before we left for Africa. I gained 10 extra pounds, even with all the training.
But immediately when we got to Africa, it was obvious we wouldn't be able to keep that up, due to what was available to us. We consumed 2,000 calories a day in Gatorade, 3,000 calories in food. I needed more like 8 to 10,000 to maintain my weight. It was rough. There's no refrigeration there, so the goat in the back of the truck in the morning is in the pot in the evening. That was really distressing to me. I had to say to our cook at one point that I just could not eat any more couscous, any more goat. We got camel meat a few times, and that tasted better. You lost a considerable amount of weight, right? I lost nearly 40 pounds at the maximum. The interesting thing is that I gained seven or eight pounds back in the last few weeks. My body reached it's tipping point, and started holding on to the food. My metabolism adjusted. How much walking did you do?
We kept track of all of it on GPS, and were averaging under 10-minute miles for the whole run. We only walked about one percent of the total (50 miles or so of the whole amount). We'd walk in the morning for 15 minutes, start our morning in the dark talking into tape recorders audio journal. I recognized that no other way would we have the energy to journal during these days, so this is how we documented our thoughts and feelings. How is it going through those journals now, in retrospect?
I am shocked at how much detail and how deep my thoughts really were. Actually, my level of anxiety is what really shocks me. At those times, talking to myself, I was really full of anxiety. I felt really responsible. I had dragged five other people and about 20 camera crews and native Tuaregs out here, and I was thinking, "This is a disaster." I genuinely felt I had hoodwinked all these people to come out to the desert. I was desperate. I didn't tell Ray or Kevin. All I said every day was, "Everything's going to be fine." Meanwhile, I'm thinking, "Oh my god, are we going to survive this? Are we going to get across this desert?"
I admit that ego came into play. It was like, "This is going to be so embarrassing if we're back home in a couple of weeks. I'll never get another sponsor, no one will ever listen to me." Anything tremendously physically challenging can leave you feeling raw. So how did that play out?
There was no buffer zone. Any emotion I had basically happened real time without any holding back. Sometimes that was really funny. We had some incredibly moving moments. There were times where we're all three in tears ... while we were running through villages and these kids are coming out to see us, or we'd be crying because we got some really good cookies and we were so grateful about it. It's amazing what small things would really make our day. I took everything personally. I took it to heart when something didn't go well, like if we didn't have enough food or water, or if the truck got a flat tire. I felt like everything out there was my responsibility. What part of your body hurt the most? I had tendonitis in my right shin, like a shin splint on steroids. That scared me the most. Ray had the same thing. Tendonitis doesn't go away, especially while you're trying to run 50 miles a day. On the last day, I had a horrendous staph infection going on within this blister on the bottom of my foot. While running, it burst. It was gross, and I felt it squishing around, but it relieved so much pressure that I could actually run. There's some controversy insinuated in the film on that last day, making it look like you were trying to leave your teammates when you felt good. What do you say about that?
It is the craziness of an expedition to think that I would ever leave them. It became their fear. I think the thought manifested in them that it was something I might do. But, look, I'm a TV producer by trade. I knew without having to be told that we needed to finish in daylight. I knew that the last thing I wanted to do was spend another night out there so I could run the last five miles in daylight.
My blister popped, and I started running again, knowing they'd catch up. But showcasing it like I would try to leave them creates a little more intrigue. Then you guys made it all the way! Are you surprised you guys made it? You all had to adjust to the changing circumstances.
Every single day I woke up as expedition leader, I said, "Ok, here's our plan." Not one time did it ever go anywhere close to as planned. We did not have many good days out of those 111 days. Eleven of them, at most, were what I would call healthy days where not one of us was in distress. We'd run out of food, water, get lost, have a fight, someone would have hurt feelings. It was incredibly rare that something didn't impact how we progressed. It was all about how we would adapt. It was almost just two of you finishing, and not three. Why?
Kevin wanted to quit. He's younger, and there were many, many days where we were running along with no purpose, where we might have been going in the wrong direction. We truly ran for two weeks between Niger and Libya when we didn't have any idea if we were going to get to continue if Libya wouldn't let us in. It's like knowing there are layoffs, and your boss asks you to start a new project. We had to get up and run 50 miles every day without knowing if we were going to be able to continue. I convinced Kevin that we had to keep trying as hard as we could. It's something I learned from adventure racing. Don't ever pull yourself from the course. Go until you couldn't go, because something might change, the cutoff times or rules or whatever. You keep going.
I even had a crazy plan that, if Libya didn't let us in, we were going to run up to Algeria, Tunisia, see if we could find a ship, run around the deck in a circle while the ship sailed around Libya and then get off and finish. They thought I was crazy, but I was totally serious.
Charlie said, “I wasn't going to live the rest of my life wishing we went as far as we could.” The team endured and the finished. You too can finish right--think well, and pray about it.
Christ is enough for you and for me. Let’s not run our race to run, but to win. To obey and please God. We need Christ every every single day.. until the end! We are saved by faith for free, NO CHARGE AT ALL, and then we follow Christ all the way home to heaven. It’s free but it’ll cost you everything--be willing for that. Might even cost our life in this perilous day. KurtwVs.medium.com
