When the Going Gets Tough, ...

    
You may not want to be resilient, you may want to give up the fight, you may even believe that your efforts won't matter because the sea that lies in front of you is too broad for you to cross. Remember the splitting of the Red Sea back in Exodus 14?  Don't give up! Too much depends on you, your life has a purpose and if you give up on life that purpose may never be fulfilled. When the pie looks too big, take one more bite, help is on the way!
     Back to our resilient basketball example. We determined that the key to the level of bouncing back was dependent on the amount of energy "strength" that was provided as the ball was forced towards the ground. In life how resilient we are, how well we bounce back, also depends on the energy we have behind us that supports us when we are "bouncing back". Job in the Bible is an excellent example of showing resiliency and bouncing back. Job lost everything and honestly the only thing that can be attributed to Job continuing to move forward was his faith in God. Literally, Job had nothing left, his family, his home, his livestock, even his good health was gone and everyone around him said, "Wow Job, God has apparently dropped you, why don't you just go ahead and curse Him and try to figure out a way just to die." But Job believed that when the going gets tough, the tough get going! He wouldn't give up on God, Job actually placed his full faith in God and in Job 17:9 he said, "The righteous keep moving forward, and those with clean hands become stronger and stronger." That's what we must do when it looks like the road is too long in front of us, we have to keep moving forward, keep pushing through your challenges in life.
     In closing today, I would like to share one of my favorite verses God surely provided to Paul, His servant, in II Corinthians 4:8-9 "We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; We are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed." Why are we not destroyed when we are cast down? Because "He who is in us is greater than he who is in the world"
I John 4:4. We bounce back because we have faith, which provides us with the ability to get going when the going gets tough. Our faith is that same strength that provides the energy to bounce back up just like the basketball each time it is forced downward to its temporary destination. If you are having a hard time in life right now, if you just don't feel like you have the energy to bounce back again, then it may be that you need some of that "keep going" energy that I just described. It is readily available and there is an endless supply waiting on you! Seek Him and be filled with His goodness, mercy, and resiliency!
Keep up the good fight!
Coach Carter