Grit

Grit;
verb (grits, gritting, gritted) [with object] 1 clench (the teeth), especially in order to keep one's resolve when faced with an unpleasant or painful duty: figurative :  Congress must grit its teeth and take action | (as adjective gritted) :  “Not here,” he said through gritted teeth.The journey of faith is often difficult. It takes grit to keep the faith all the way to the end. Resolve. Determination. Perseverance. All of these words can be summed up with that four little word grit. Jesus had grit. He resolutely set His face to go to Jerusalem knowing full well what awaited Him there. He gritted out the scourging and the crucifixion. He endured with grit when the sin of the world was placed on His divine shoulders. In true grit He endured those agonizing hours hanging on the cross. In true grit He accomplished His redemptive mission. That is why He could honestly say, "It is finished. " It well worth noting He did not say, "I am finished."He set the example for grit in the face of hostility, opposition, disappointment, and with unpleasantries. We are to press on with grit. I have always been a fierce competitor. From my grade school days to today I hate losing at anything. You would think I would be good at it being that I have lost so much over the years. I still hate losing. Whether it be a board game at the house, watching the boys play, or some form of recreational competition. I HATE LOSING. I have taken that competitive nature into personal challenges. One Mother's Day I resolved to ride my bike from Paradise, TX to Hurst, TX. About 50 miles. I ran out of water along the way. With grit I kept telling myself to keep pedaling. Eventually I made it. That paled in comparison to when I decided to ride 100 miles. It took nine hours to make that ride. I kept quoting scripture and replaying a text Taylor sent me that morning. One man told me afterward, "You are the most determined man I know." I think what he meant is that I have grit.These days I still lift weights. Each summer I design workouts for the boys. I intentionally try to make them hard. So hard I often question why I wrote the workout down on paper. I do the workouts with them. I also walk. I dabble at jogging but mainly I do my cardio workout by walking. Usually five miles a day. Sometimes more. Yesterday, I went a little longer. My feet became sore. My back ached. To finish my walk I had to trudge up the largest hill of the whole workout. It took grit to get up that hill. I still had close to a mile to get home after the hill. I felt pretty used up the rest o the evening. I have to make sure I get more steps in every day than Brenda. It is that same mentality I take into the Christian life. Ministry has not always been easy. It is not easy now. Yet I keep telling myself to keep praying, to keep believing, to keep trusting, to keep clinging to scripture, to keep preaching, to keep writing, to keep asking, to keep seeking, and to keep knocking. Many days it feels like nothing is happening. In reality God is strengthening me. He is putting more grit in me. After all the challenges I can still say I love Jesus. I still trust Him. I am resolved to follow Him. I am not giving up. Jesus did not give up on the cross and therefore I am not going to give up on Him even if life is unpleasant for a season. He is my strength. He is my hope. He is my refuge. He is my comforter. He is my counselor. He is my provider. He is my peace. He is my joy. He is my perseverance. May He keep putting grit in me to finish the course He has set before me. I aim to finish my  race. May I endure with grit to the very end looking to Jesus as my example. Hebrews 12:1-3 (NASB)
¹  Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,
²  fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
³  For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.