I Will Persist Without Exception

Greetings,

I pray that this week is finding you blessed by God.

Today we come to the end of the road for David Ponder. Through his travel through...whatever it is he is traveling through...he comes to the last of his successful statements. This statement is my favorite. It's my favorite because it talks about dreams and the determination that it takes to make those dreams happen.

At last David finds himself in the presence of another figure of time. And, yet, this is probably the least known individual. I am sure that there are subsets of humanity that know of this figure but I have a tendency to think that there are many who might read this book and say, "Who the heck is that?". I am speaking of the angel Gabriel. That's right! David Ponder finds himself standing in front of the angel Gabriel!

For those of you who might not be familiar with Gabriel I will take a few lines to introduce you to him. Gabriel is an archangel. That's means...well...it means he is upper management in heaven! If God is the president than Gabriel is on his cabinet! Actually, Gabriel is the messenger of God. Remember Mary, the mother of Jesus? He was the angel that came and told her that she was going to have a child and that it would be the son of God. Pretty cool, huh!

Well, after the shock of being in the presence of an angel, David hears the great statement that Gabriel has for him...I Will Persist without Exception. That statement alone could fill volumes of books telling us how we can achieve that very goal. Gabriel has another idea. David is taken to a giant warehouse where he is show every object imaginable. He sees vacuums and hair dryers, car parts and kitchen parts, light bulbs and lampshades and the list goes on and on. Amazed at the sheer volume of all that he sees he asks Gabriel what the point is to all of this "stuff". That's when this book ties it all up for us.

Gabriel explains that this is the "place that never was". Obviously confused by the statement David asks Gabriel for an explanation. Gabriel then takes him and shows him things that are in the warehouse and the first thing they talk about is a cure for cancer. Within this warehouse is the cure for cancer! But, Gabriel goes on to share that this warehouse is completely filled with ideas, dreams, and endeavors that never came to be because the individual or individuals who has started creating them simply gave up. WOW!

The statement that we talked of earlier is the best statement at all. Persistence is what makes great dreams come true. Yet, so many times we fall short of our goals and dreams simply because we give up. On my journey I have learned that persistence pays off. It wasn't easy recovering from my brain surgeries but I swore to myself and to God that I would never give up. Granted, there were times when I felt like just falling into my bed and letting apathy and fatigue consume. However, God always gave me that little bit of extra strength to overcome those doubts and fears.

I believe that out of all of the statements we have looked at God likes this one the best. I truly believe if we could ask God for the best advice He could give us he would use this one, Persist without Exception. Don't ever give up! I think He would say, "Don't ever give up on me because I will never give up on you". God persists without exception. In the midst of my unbelief, God never gave up on me. When I cursed for sending me to Alaska, God never gave up on me. When I would lie in my bed with tears streaming down my cheeks because of the pain, God never gave up on me! God persist without exception!

So, what about you? Where is it your life that you to carry on? Where is it in your life that you need to not give up but to persist? Is it your health, your finances, your relationship to others or to God? As we end this book I want to absorb the statements that we have shared. However, if you apply any of them to your life today make it this one. If we are going to be people who have a say in what we do and what we succeed in we are going to have to persist without exception.

Jim Valvano, also known as Jimmy V, was a basketball coach at the North Carolina State University. You might remember him as the coach that ran up and down the court after NCSU won the national championship. What you might not know was Jim Valvano died from cancer and before dying founded the Jimmy N foundation for cancer research. The reason I bring him up is that, before dying, he gave an interview. That interview would produce one of the greatest quotes I can ever remember. When asked what advice he would give to others he said nine words that, for me, helped me get through my surgeries. It was nine words that I would say to myself through all of the really painful times of recovery. Those nine words were, "Don't ever give up, baby. Don't ever give up"! Jim Valvano knew what it meant to persist without exception.

So, maybe as we leave The Traveler's Gift we can make an effort to change our lives. Maybe we take back what life has seemed to steal from us. Perhaps, we can take control of who we are and what we want to be. Maybe, just maybe, we can start living the way God created us to live. So, perhaps, the traveler's gift can be our gift as well. So, until we meet again, remember to keep telling yourself: The Buck Stops Here, I will Seek Wisdom, I Am a Person of Action, I Have a Decided Heart, Today I Will Choose to Be Happy, I Will Greet This Day with a Forgiving Spirit, and I Will Persist Without Exception.

Don't let your life contribute to the place that never was! AMEN!

Blessings,


Derek