Just Keep Going On

 Even though Thomas Huxley was wrong about so many things like evolution he was right when he said, “The rung of a ladder was never meant to rest upon, but only to hold a man’s foot long enough to enable him to put the other somewhat higher.”

Theodora Roosevelt was a perfect example of this.  Pushing hard he would live everyday as if it were his last and when it came to jobs he would tirelessly work at it as if it were his last job.  After years and years of striving and fighting to reached his full potential Theodora Roosevelt climbed the top and became president of the United States.  In Proverbs 22:29 Solomon writes, "Do you see a man skilled in his work?  He will serve before kings; he will not serve before obscure men."  Roosevelt must have known this passage and for he gave 100% to everything he did.

Unfortunately most of us teenagers these day are not passionate in the things we do and are not working hard to achieve our full potential.  When it comes to doing hard things that will move us forward we do not give it all our energy nor do we exert ourselves.  We get comfortable with life. We justify ourselves by saying things like, "Well, I'm doing more than he is," or "At least I am not like her."  Instead of climbing up the ladder we rest on the middle rung. Or to use an another analogy, we sit down on a stepping stone in the middle of the stream.  Yeah, we are comfortable just sitting there with our feet dangling in the cool river.  But that is not what stepping stones are for.  They are meant to get us across the river.

Over 100 years ago a woman named Mary, who lived in Dundee, Scotland, lay awake in bed thinking about the famous explorer David Livingstone.  She began to dream of all the exciting adventures he must of had discovering the uncharted lands of Africa.  Mr. Livingstone's favourite quote was, "I don't care where we go as long as we go forward." 

"Well," Mary thought, "I am not going forward.  I am 27 years old, work 6 days a week in a cotton mill and on Sundays help out at church."  In the quiet of her moonlit room under the warmth of her bed covers she prayed, "God, I want to go forward like David Livingstone.  Send me somewhere, anywhere.  Just send me to be a missionary."

God answered her prayer and Mary Slessor was a missionary  in the Calabar region in Africa for 39 years!  She braved sickness, danger and death all round yet she kept moving forward and gave the gospel to the people of Africa.  Mary did not settle.  She kept moving forward and as a consequence it changed her life and thousands of others.

So, what about you?  Are you moving forward or have you settled halfway up the ladder?