Photo by Paul Venturo
When I was in high school, we had a cheer that went, “You’ve got to want it to win it, and we want it bad . . .” I don’t know that we really wanted it that badly because we rarely won a game. But I think there is some profound wisdom in that little cheer. The principle is the reason fifteen below is better than thirty one degrees. Let me explain.
We are staying in one of our favorite places. It is like coming home for us. The campground is just behind the dunes that line the remote beach and inlet where we spent countless hours before we sold the house. We have a million memories here. When we first started coming we had to help the kids up the large rocks that make up the jetty. Now they scramble up and wait for Paul and I impatiently. Now as we walk down the beach, we all interrupt each other.
“Remember that huuuuge storm?”
“Remember when we caught all those fish?”
“Remember when that rogue pelican attacked us?”
Needless to say, we are glad to be here. But it is a little rough because it is really cold. Yesterday we walked down by the water and it was so windy and frigid that we ran back to the trailer to get our little wind and temperature reader and brought it back down on the sand. We gathered around the little screen. Thirty-one degrees wind chill. Twenty mile-per-hour wind. Wait . . . that’s it?
As we ran back again, we discussed the temperature incredulously. Because we thought it was colder than that. We thought the wind was stronger. We couldn’t wait to get inside and in front of the electric fireplace. And we couldn’t understand it because we remembered our climb up Marble Mountain (read that story here and here). There we had climbed in wind that was gusting over sixty miles-per-hour. Enough to knock me over. There on the summit it was fifteen degrees below zero. Enough to freeze our drinking water. Yet that day was one of the best adventures we have ever had. We didn’t want it to end.
So why were we so anxious to go inside today? And why, on Marble Mountain, didn’t we turn around and go back to our cozy home? I think it is because, on the mountain, it was worth it to us to brave the cold and stand on that summit. We wanted it so badly that we were willing to suffer - wanted it so much that the extreme temperature and wind didn’t seem all that bad. We were going to make it no matter how difficult it was. But here, on the beach, we didn’t want it that badly. We just wanted to be warm.
We raced back to the trailer and took off our hats and gloves and coats, breathless and red-cheeked from our chilly walk, and I got to thinking. How badly do I want to obey God? Do I run to safety whenever I encounter an obstacle? Or am I as determined as I was on Marble Mountain to follow Jesus whatever the cost?
Unfortunately, I can think of plenty of times when I have made excuses so that I could stay comfortable rather than obey. Some of them seem valid. But I know that if I really wanted to, I would find a way to talk to that person about Jesus, make a humble attempt to mend that relationship, get away from that temptation, give to that person in need.
You’ve got to want it to win it. How badly do you want to follow the One Who took your sin and gave you His righteousness? Do you pursue His will with the same effort that you go after other things? How much do you love Him? (2 Corinthians 5:21; Matthew 16:24-26; John 14:15).
