So they left the council rejoicing because they had been considered worthy to suffer dishonor for the sake of the name. (Acts 5:41)
We ate breakfast in the predawn darkness, and the cloud of sleep evaporated from my eight-year-old mind. I would spend the day on Grandpa’s construction site. I was giddy as a monkey in a banana tree. I had my lunch like Grandpa, and I would share his thermos of milky sweet coffee.
“What are we building today, Grandpa? I can pound nails in. Why do your teeth go into a glass at night?” I chattered a mockingbird’s repertoire inside his pickup truck.
Grandpa nodded his tired head and smirked at my enthusiasm. After all, we were only going to the muddy worksite he labored at six days a week.
How blessed I would be if I could bring my childhood excitement to the trials I now face. A gracious Father permits affliction, so I’ll have the opportunity to strike my mark into the tablet of eternity. I can be counted among those who see hope through hardship. My illnesses, disappointments, and temptations are as holy as anything the apostles suffered.
Why not live enthused about what others dread? Why not do the unthinkable and look trials in the face, then choose joy by the power of the Spirit? Not a stiff-upper-lip-grind-it-out endurance, but a get-up-and-go-to-work-with-grandpa buzz because I’m glorifying Jesus.
Prayer: All wise King, make me joyful about withstanding adversity for you