BBD 12.11.07 The Mountain of Life
Posted by: wrather <wrather@...>
Join the Burning Bush Prayer Group! Send and receive prayer requests and be
a part of a great ministry. More than 300 wonderful people make up this
group. To join send an email to: BBPG-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Be a part of the Burning Bush Community! Share prayer requests,
inspirational material, find help for addictions, and help others. Find out
more at the Burning Bush Community webpage:
http://www.theburningbush.net/pages.asp?pageid=37647
Several devotional booklets are available for free download in PDF format at
the new site. Just click on the "Free Book Downloads" link.
Join facebook.com and be my friend. Use the facebook search feature to find
me (Ed Wrather) and then add me as your friend (Click the link on the right
hand side.). So far through this effort at least one person has been saved
and God has had the opportunity to touch lives that would not otherwise have
been possible.
The Burning Bush Devotional
Welcome to the 1603 new subscribers since January 1, 2007!!
12.11.07
The Mountain of Life
And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that
tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and
character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has
been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. -
Romans 5:3-5.
I have heard of the New York City Marathon and the Boston Marathon where the
course is 26.2 miles and I am always incredibly impressed by the endurance
of those who can even finish such a race. However, I have recently learned
of an even more difficult race. It is a 100-mile endurance race and one of
those races is run in Vermont. Their website says, "The Vermont 100
Endurance Race is one of the original 100 mile runs in the USA and a part of
the Grand Slam series of Ultrarunning. Each year, 300 runners attempt to
finish this hilly race over beautiful Vermont back roads and trails under
the 30 hour cutoff point, and a well-trained few finish in under 24 hours.
The current course record is 14:53:09." Now that really is incredible and
you have to have endurance to finish that race!
Endurance is defined as (1 ability to bear prolonged hardship: the ability
or power to bear prolonged exertion, pain, or hardship; (2 toleration of
hardship: toleration of prolonged suffering or hardship; (3 persistence over
time: the survival or persistence of something despite the ravages of time.
When I was in college the last time, I considered entering a doctoral
program. One professor shared with me some of his experiences in obtaining
his doctorate and graduate school in general. He summed it up by saying it
was just an "endurance contest." He said there were many people who were
intelligent enough, and even more intelligent than he was, but they did not
endure long enough to receive their degree.
According to the apostle Paul, the problems, trials, and tribulations of
life require "perseverance," or as the KJV puts it, "patience." It sounds
like Paul is saying there are some things in life that require endurance. To
live the Christian life requires that we endure the temptations of this
world, the flesh, and the devil. To live a Christian life we must persevere
in the face of harsh and critical words from those around us. We must
persevere with kindness in return for the hateful things, which are
sometimes done to us. We must persevere in the face of temptation; resisting
for one more day.
As we persevere day by day, over time we will see that Paul was right. Over
time, we will see that the perseverance develops character, and this godly
character produces hope. In many ways, life is like a climb to the top of
Mt. Everest. Stacy Allison, the first American woman to climb to the summit
of Everest said this, "The end of the ridge and end of the world... then
nothing but that clear, empty air. There was nowhere else to climb. I was
standing on the top of the world." Let us keep on climbing to new heights
with Jesus because some bright shining day we too will stand on the top of
our mountain, a mountain called, "Life."
Copyright © 2007. Ed Wrather. Permission is given for use of the devotionals
on a non-profit basis with source credited. The Burning Bush website has
been online since January 31, 1998. On June 8, 1998 the email version of the
Burning Bush Devotional was first sent.
Prayer Requests: Please pray for Malachi a young boy with cancer. He and his
father have been stranded in an airport at Kansas City since Sunday.
Hopefully, they will make it home tomorrow. Many prayer needs are posted at
the Burning Bush website on the Prayer Request page. You can also post your
prayer requests there and they will be forwarded to the Burning Bush Prayer
Group (Of course, I am always in need of prayer - please pray for me.).
If you enjoy the devotional please recommend it to your friends. They may
subscribe by sending a blank email to
burningbushdevo-subscribe@welovegod.org
Streaming Videos of some of my sermons are posted at:
http://www.theburningbush.org/fbcswvideo.html
There is a complete devotional archive at the old Burning Bush website. Here
is the URL: http://www.theburningbush.org/33.html.
You can unsubscribe to the pure text version of the devotional by sending a
blank email to burningbushdevo-unsubscribe@welovegod.org and then respond to
the confirmation email.
You may subscribe to the html text group by sending a blank email to
burningbushhtml-subscribe@welovegod.org and you may unsubscribe by sending a
blank email to burningbushhtml-unsubscribe@welovegod.org and then respond to
the confirmation email.