The Tortoise and the Hare is one of Aesop's Fables I’m sure you are familiar with. It’s the story of a race between unequal opponents. The hare was lightning fast. The tortoise was as slow as a…well, tortoise!
The day of the race came. The signal was given and the hare soon outdistanced his slow partner. Deciding that the race was as good as over, the hare decided to stop to rest for a while. As he napped, the slow but steady tortoise not only caught up with the hare but passed him. By the time the hare awoke from his nap, it was too late. Fast though he was, he lost the race. Thus the idiom, “Slow and steady wins the race.”
Long before Aesop wrote the story of the Tortoise and the Hare, Solomon made this observation, “The swiftest person does not always win the race, nor the strongest man the battle” (Ecc. 9:11). Speed and strength do not always guarantee victory. Endurance does. “But those enduring to the end shall be saved” (Matt. 24:13).
I just watched a Discovery Channel documentary on BUD/S (Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL) Training. It’s the story of eighty men who began the six month training course designed to turn them into a formidable fighting unit. The training is unbelievably difficult. Consequently, of the eighty candidates who started the program, only sixteen finished.
Not everyone who starts finishes. But everyone who endures wins. Be an overcomer! Stay in the race and plod on. And if you are feeling a little weak and weary, just tap into the energy of the Spirit. He will renew your strength enabling you to, “run and not be weary…walk and not faint” (Isaiah 40:31).
Pastor Todd Weston
The day of the race came. The signal was given and the hare soon outdistanced his slow partner. Deciding that the race was as good as over, the hare decided to stop to rest for a while. As he napped, the slow but steady tortoise not only caught up with the hare but passed him. By the time the hare awoke from his nap, it was too late. Fast though he was, he lost the race. Thus the idiom, “Slow and steady wins the race.”
Long before Aesop wrote the story of the Tortoise and the Hare, Solomon made this observation, “The swiftest person does not always win the race, nor the strongest man the battle” (Ecc. 9:11). Speed and strength do not always guarantee victory. Endurance does. “But those enduring to the end shall be saved” (Matt. 24:13).
I just watched a Discovery Channel documentary on BUD/S (Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL) Training. It’s the story of eighty men who began the six month training course designed to turn them into a formidable fighting unit. The training is unbelievably difficult. Consequently, of the eighty candidates who started the program, only sixteen finished.
Not everyone who starts finishes. But everyone who endures wins. Be an overcomer! Stay in the race and plod on. And if you are feeling a little weak and weary, just tap into the energy of the Spirit. He will renew your strength enabling you to, “run and not be weary…walk and not faint” (Isaiah 40:31).
Pastor Todd Weston
