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Persistence is a life long lesson for me. I am convinced, although I won't know for sure till I get to Heaven, that the Holy Spirit has been my coach in this, gently whispering and nudging me along to be more persistent or patient.
There are plenty of examples in the Bible.
A king was approached by a prophet and told to shoot arrows into the air. The king complied and shot three arrows into the air. The prophet expressed dismay. "If only you would have shot 6 arrows instead of three, your kingdom would have succeeded". The king failed to take this lesson to heart and the kingdom later fell to the enemy. Google it.
Abram, later called Abraham, was praying that God would spare his nephew Lot when he found out that God was going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah where Lot lived. "Would you spare the city if there were 50 righteous people found in it?" God said He would. Abraham persisted and negotiated God down to 5 instead of 50. There were not 5, but God still separated righteous Lot, along with his wife and two daughters, dragging them out of the city.
There is also the story, told by Jesus, of the widow who lost her home, and went to appeal to an unjust judge. Her persistence led the crooked judge to rule in her favor, because he knew she would just keep coming back.
There are multiple examples in the Bible. Now I will tell you a few of my own.
When trying to get back on our feet, I spent a week in Colorado Springs looking for a job. My last effort was Hewlett Packard. It was Friday afternoon. I was hot, tired, and hungry. I went up to the glass door, but wearily turned around and drove home. We moved to California a little later.
Some time later I came back to Colorado Springs for my Dad's graduation from Bible College. I decided to look up my friend Harvey Kroll, who had been the personnel manager at Western Forge. He had hired me after interviewing me for 3 hours where we did nothing but shoot the breeze about music, because Harvey was a fervent music lover. I found out Harvey no longer worked at Western Forge, but was now the personnel manager for... Hewlett Packard. Harvey's office was just around the corner of that glass door that I never knocked on. Since I had taken management training classes, Harvey said he could have gotten me a management position. Lesson learned.
On the positive side, I once called on a family 26 times, not every day, but once a week. I would inquire into their welfare, make my visits brief, and do my best to not wear out my welcome. After 26 calls, they started attending church.
Jesus said for us to go out into the highways and hedges and compel them to come in that "my house may be full."
I've had a couple of comments about my character that have both honored me and humbled me. One high ranking supervisor worried that I would be overwhelmed at some of the problems I was facing at work. My friend spoke up for me. He said I would never give up.
When Mary's illness with Alzheimer's began to deepen, her son worried that I would divorce Mary. My daughter honored me with her comment. "My dad would never divorce and abandon her." I hope to earn that kind of respect from my children
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