Stay the course

Today I planned a ride as I prepare for my next cycle race.
I worked out my route along with all the nutrition I would need. All was going really well until a bee flew inside my cycle top and stung me on my back while looking for an escape route.
Even though it stung, literally, I had to stay the course to get back home. To complete the training goal.

Think of those guys who were involved in the moon landings in the late 60's.
There was a course plotted out for them before they even signed up to fly. If they followed the course they would complete the mission. Even when Apollo 13 struck difficulty, they were only able to get home in part, because they continued on the same course, as difficult as it was.

In the last week we have had the awful news that an Airliner with over 200 people has gone missing.
Missing in part because it strayed for whatever reason from the course set for it.
Because of whatever reason for the course change, millions sit in uncomfortable anticipation.
Families wait unbearably. Millions are being spent trying to track them down.

When the Apostle Paul was talking to Timothy near the end of his life, he said to him that he was satisfied because he had run his race, stayed the course and was ready to claim his prize.
I strikes me that Paul mentioned this. Partly because there is a hint here that he could have changed course at some stage. Why else would he mention it?
His satisfaction was in the knowing that even though he could have, he didn't, and now he gets to go home.

If I was going to pick on my generation…well I'm going to…
It is this trait many seem unable to carry. Staying the course. Finishing what they start.
In a message recently I retold how grateful I am to my Mum for making me stick at things like learning musical instruments. It ingrained in me a character trait that will hold me well the rest of my life.
Instead of giving in or giving up I stay the course no matter what.
I do whatever God tells me to do until God tells me otherwise or directs me elsewhere.
I stay the course even when it seems impossible and at times painful and uncomfortable.
Doesn't scripture tell us we ultimately win if we persevere?

One of my favourite Psalms is 119.
Not because it is long, but because there is so much I can learn and apply in it.
Amazingly the first lines relate well to this simple thought…

You’re blessed when you stay on course,
    walking steadily on the road revealed by God.
You’re blessed when you follow his directions,
    doing your best to find him.
That’s right—you don’t go off on your own;
    you walk straight along the road he set.
You, God, prescribed the right way to live;
    now you expect us to live it.
The Message Version

I once heard a speaker, who just happened to be a commercial pilot, say the best way to navigate a storm is to actually go through it. Staying on course gets you to your destination.

Let's be people who stay the course...

Something to think about...