Pressing Through Adversity

Today has been a day of deep reflection and introspection. I have begun to back off from the job sites with FidScapes and entrust that to my much-more-than-capable wife and crew. I am so very blessed to be supported and surrounded by some of the most incredible and talented people on the planet. Hence the day of administration, course work in case management, reflection and introspection.

We all face deep adversity at times, none of us are exempt. And many times, perhaps most often, (at least in my life) the adversity is self-inflicted. Just over the past week I have made some decisions that I am not proud of at all. I cannot think of anything I have done to complicate my life yet today, but it is just now lunchtime. Yet so often I hear people say about others: “well they got themselves into that situation, they can get themselves out.” Really, can they? Really, could I? - if I did not have a wife, a family, a work crew, friends, people that believe in me, that know that my initial tendency is often times to just mess things up?

You see, we cast these sweeping judgments on people without knowing the whole story. Why write off the man in the woods by saying, “oh well, he put himself there by his own bad choices.” Yet we exonerate the local businessman who has been having an affair on his wife as just needing to get his needs met. Why?

What I have learned in my life is that the only reason I still have a chance from day to day to do anything positive with my life is not because of me at all but because of the other people that God has placed in my life. I still have a business because I have been blessed with a great support team. I still have a chance because of my family. I still have friends because they really believe in grace. I still have a wife because she sees beyond my insanity to my potential. But what if I/we did not have all of that? What if the businessman cheating on his wife, having the affair, and it being swept under the rug, did not have all that? Quite frankly his chances of also being in the woods would be much greater.

I would love to sit here and say that I press on because God gives me all of this supernatural strength and sometimes that is true, but really it is because God gives me strength through people who love me and support me even in spite of my foolishness. In many cases the people we look upon with such disdain are just one step away from pressing on but they need a hug, the need some love, they need more than a meal, they need a friend.

We must come to a point where we see ourselves as potentially the most downcast of society because in a sense that is who we are apart from the people that we are surrounded by. You may claim to be self-made but I highly doubt it. I would guess that even the self-proclaimed, self-made, hanger of the stars still makes bad choices and is assisted in “righting” those wrongs by people that love and care for their “self-made” selves.

We press on because we have hope! Do you know that if you have found yourself with no home, no family, no income, no food, no true friends, etc., etc., that it is hard to have hope? God forgive me that I ever feel hopeless when I am surrounded by hope. God forgive me that I see hope on display in almost every single facet of my life but I sometimes feel hopeless. That is why I am able to press on and I can never take a moment’s credit for that. What if none of that was there? Could I still press on in the face of adversity? Probably not!

Regardless of how messed up and flawed I tend to be or you may be, we need each other! I need you and you need me. We can never get through this life or this world without each other. We can only keep on pressing on because others have and we have seen it. We can only press on because we are loved and capable of love. We can only keep pressing on in adversity because God has shown us love through other people.

In the book of Proverbs there is a verse that at times has been the calling card for my life. In chapter 18 and verse 1 the writer says: “Whoever isolates himself seeks his own desire; he breaks out against all sound judgment” (esv). Yep, know that one well - all too well.

But the same author also wrote: “Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up!” (Eccl. 4:9-10)

Can I just tell you on behalf of myself and all of the rest of us who are deeply wounded at times in this world that we live in, we need each other! The only way we can ever expect to press on and to finish well is if I have you and you have me. This is not some cheesy Barney song but a radical truth that I know is true. So let’s all press on in adversity together and seek out those in our community that just need that pat on the back, that hug, that love that says “you can press on, because you matter and you are worth it.”

I know that I need you!