In Alfred Lansing book Endurance I was given the opportunity to experience via the documentary of a true story journey of Shackleton’s incredible voyage for the South Atlantic.  This epic adventure recreates one of the most astonishing feats of exploration and human courage ever recorded.  In August 1914, the Endurance set sail.  The object of the expedition: to cross the Antarctic overland.  Their ship got trapped and then crushed in the frozen ice.  For five months Shackleton and his men, drifting on ice packs, were castaways in one of the most savage regions of the world. Shackleton led his men, as he fought for his own and their lives, during a 1,000 mile voyage in an open boat across the stormiest ocean in the World and an overland trek through unimaginable glaciers and mountains.  Their fight for survival was a great demonstration of endurance and even something stronger – Tenacity.

Tenacity is more than endurance, it is endurance combined with the absolute certainty that what we are looking for is going to transpire.  Tenacity is more than hanging on, which may be but the weakness of being too afraid to fall off.   Becoming the best at anything requires tenacity.  It is more than just showing up to the weight room; it is how tenaciously you train while there.  It is more than showing up to a football field; it is how you train while you are there.  It is more than being a part of a team; it is never ceasing to find ways to improve. 

  It is typically in the final moments of the exercise that the athlete fights off the urge to quit.  Instead, you want to picture your goals in your mind’s eye so clearly that you can’t imagine that goal not transpiring.  You are simply going to do whatever it takes to make it happen.  That is tenacity. 

God encourages us to be tenacious as well.  In times of struggle and in times of strive, God encourages us to “Be still, and know that I am God.”  (Psalm 46:10)  In this p***age we are painted a picture of the world blowing up, mountains trembling, and oceans roaring.  In this crisis God is encouraging us to “Stand silent!”  To be tenacious; believing that He will be honored by every nation in the world.   To believe even in the face of pain, fear, and doubt.  We must be the ones that remain focused on the task at hand. 

It is stories like Shackeltons that help me to keep my struggles in perspective.  Life's challenges can be tough - however, comparitively with many part of the World, we are wonderfuly blessed.

Lord help us to remain spiritually tenacious. Help me to practice that tenacity for Christ with my family, my friends, my physical training, and my job.  Help me to stay strong and most of all to stay tenacious toward knowing you more and loving people the way that you would have loved them.  In times of struggle help me to remain still and focus on knowing that you are God.  That I am the worker, yet in the end, it is YOU that is in charge.  Give tenacious strength and fortitude to ALL YOUR soldiers.  Amen.