Dear friends, I would like to thank you for reading Soul Man and commenting in the past year. The Holy Spirit has been convicting me about my blogging inconsistency over the last couple months.  So I want to I simply and humbly apologize and ask your forgiveness for my negligence.

Over the last several months The Williams Tribe has been transitioning to my new position and new community at Trinity Church. This time has been a time of laughter, grief (leaving Tabernacle), excitement, adventure, opportunities, change and sometimes fear of that change. We weren’t expecting God to “move our cheese,” but he did and each day we are excited to sniff out the new “Cheese Station” and opportunities that he has provided us. I will be blogging soon about the lessons God is already teaching me and my family. But, I wanted to take time today to offer this apology for my delinquency and to let you know that, like vanilla extract, I’m back in the mix.

In what area of your life – family, friendships, community, or finances – have you been delinquent and need to be more consistent? To what commitment do you need to say, “I’m back?”

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Early Monday morning Grand Rapids was hit by a terrible storm. My family told me that, at one point, the storm was so intense that thunder shook the house. “Why did your family have to tell you this?” I hear someone asking. Well, they had to tell me this because I slept through the whole thing. I sleep so hard that, when my oldest was about two or three years old, my wife had him sit on my head and bounce up and down to try and wake me. I never woke up. I don’t want to even imagine the other things she’s done and does to me while I sleep. Lol!  My name is Marvin, and I am a hard sleeper. I would imagine if you are anything like me, there are times you feel like Jesus is a hard sleeper, too. I mean: 

Storms shake the house  
Waves overwhelm us 
We’re alone in the middle of the lake,
We’re groping through the darkest point of the night,
We’re straining as we attempt to make appreciable progress. 
There feels like great distance between us and Jesus 
Even if he does come, it looks like he’s blessing everyone else, and it feels like he’s going to pass by us.  

And we call on Jesus and call on Jesus and call on Jesus, and there is no answer. Like the disciples in Luke 8:22-25, sometimes we feel like Jesus is a hard sleeper, totally unaware of the relational, financial, emotional, and spiritual terrorists that stalk and terrorize our lives. 

I want to assure you that he is not a hard sleeper. He is fully aware and fully present. He sees us when we don’t see him, He comes to us when we can’t get to him, and he speaks to us when we can’t speak to him. This is what he says to us:

Take courage!

It is I.

Don’t be afraid.

When have you felt like Jesus was a hard sleeper and was unaware of your storms? How did you respond? What was the hardest part about trusting him in the middle of the storm?

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Sometimes, in life and relationships, we have to GO THROUGH this:

And ENDURE this: 

And CLIMB and BATTLE this:

In order to ENJOY the view of this:

And be OVERWHELMED by the beauty and power of this:

And EXPERIENCE the refreshment of this:

What “This” have you had to go through, endure, battle and climb, in order to get to the “This” of breath-taking scenery and refreshing natural pools? Remember, this is still “sponsor me” week. So, leave a comment.

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When we were growing up, my father kept a can of WD-40 in the house and in his car. It seemed it was the end all be all for almost everything. But what is WD-40? It literally stands for Water Displacement, 40th attempt. In 1953, the chemist, Norm Larsen, was attempting to concoct a formula to prevent corrosion – a task which is done by displacing water. Larsen’s unyielding tenacity and persistence paid off when he perfected the formula on his 40th try. Larsen had, what the Bible calls, chutzpah (khoot-spuh).  

Matthew introduces us to a Gentile woman who had chutzpah (Matthew 15:21-28). Her daughter was violently and cruelly demon-possessed. She had no hope of ever seeing her daughter normal again, playing on the roads, or walking down aisle on her wedding day. She was hopeless, until she heard Jesus was in town, the same Jesus who had exorcised a demon on the Sabbath. Her faith came alive because she had heard about Jesus’ power at work in the lives of others. With this in mind, she approached Jesus boldly and persevered with unyielding tenacity. She had the gall, the brazen nerve, the incredible guts, the audacity to overstep the boundaries of accepted behavior, with no shame, in order to get help for her daughter. She had chutzpah! Jesus responded to the unyielding persistence of her desire and healed her daughter. Take time to carefully read the narrative.

Man, I wish I had that kind of chutzpah in my prayer life. Sometimes I pray and if I don’t get an answer the first time, I give up. I stop praying. I stop approaching. I stop crying out to God. That’s not chutzpah! Chutzpah is having the raw nerve, the gall, the incredible guts, and the audacity to be persistent with God. Now, it is not an attitude of arrogance, but an attitude of unyielding tenacity that recognizes that God is sovereign, good, just, loving and desires what’s best for his people. I wonder how many of our requests God has not granted because we lacked chutzpah. So, when you pray, do it with chutzpah! 

Do you have chutzpah? What prayers have you seen God answer because of your chutzpah? What other questions does this post raise for you regarding chutzpah in prayer?  

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This morning I woke up with this weighing heavy on my heart. Have you ever cried out: “God, Enough!”

Enough pain

Enough hospital visits and surgeries

Enough medication

Enough tragedy

Enough depression

Enough stress

Enough directionless living

Enough family crises

Enough lay-offs and being let go

Enough of not having enough

Enough ridicule

Enough loneliness and isolation

Enough suffering in silence

Enough visits to probation officers

Enough arguing and fighting

Enough unfaithfulness in my marriage

Enough separation and divorce

Enough non-commitment

Enough complaining about what’s not right

Enough being invisible

God, Enough already! I’ve had Enough!

I hear Him saying to us during these times: “My grace is Enough for you. My power works best in your weakness.” (2 Cor.12:9) Read those words again and let them wash over your heart like a fresh rainfall.

About what else have you cried, “God, I’ve had Enough!?” How have you experienced his grace being Enough lately?

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Have you ever felt like you were walking, but you weren't making any progress? You know, paying bills, but the balance seems to stand still? Helping people, but they don't seem to get better? It's like walking in circles, right. I have been there more times than I care to remember. Maybe you feel like you are walking in circles right now and you're wondering if you will ever make progress again. If you feel like you are walking in circles, I want to share a few thoughts that have helped me make it through my own crop circle seasons.

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Once two frogs fell into a pot of cream and they could not get out. So they swam around and around in the cream. "Oh, this is the end of my life," said one of the frogs. It gave up, stopped swimming, and drowned in the white liquid. The second frog, not liking the fate of the first frog, swam and swam, thrashed and thrashed, and beat the cream with its little feet. The cream became a ball of butter, and the frog jumped on the ball of butter and got out of the pot. What persistence! 

You started this year with high hopes to be persistent in reaching your goals. But, life happened, schedules have filled up and you have found yourself being inconsistent. If you are anything like me, you feel frustration over those days of inconsistency and failure. You probably feel like that first frog, ready to stop swimming and give up. I penned this post to encourage you and me to be like the second frog. Let's keep swimming, thrashing, and beating the cream with our little feet until our persistence makes butter, providing footing for our survival and success. Here are a few suggestions on how we can keep beating the cream and become more persistent this year:

Push through quitting points

Keep your goal(s) in sight

Be persistent even when doing small tasks

Learn your "quitting triggers"

Be flexible 

Give yourself grace 

How persistent are you in achieving your goals? What are some triggers that make you feel like giving up? What do you think you need to do to be more persistent? What are some other techniques that have helped you remain persistent in the past? Tell me what you think.

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