January 2025 – Chaplain Newsletter

January 2025

TIME & PATIENCE

Never was a project so hopelessly mired in failure, disappointment, and doubt.  Congress had high hopes for this building that was to measure 170 feet long and 85 feet deep.  But when they were handed the estimated cost of $400,000 (in 1790 dollars), the plan was dramatically scaled down. And when construction finally began, a worse building site could not have been chosen – in the middle of farmland and swamps, surrounded by shanties that housed laborers and tents that served as brothels.  

As work on this all-important building lagged behind schedule, an inspector found that its main timbers had already begun to rot and needed replacing.  Then funding for this “fiasco” ran out and Congress not only didn’t know where to find more money.  It had serious doubts if the building was worth the effort.  But slowly the money came and very slowly construction continued.

When its primary occupant finally took up residence in the building in 1800, he found the roof leaked so badly that the ceiling plaster collapsed, and the windows were so drafty that hardly any room was habitable.  Even when it was “new” it was a wreck.  Piles of junk and discarded building materials still lay everywhere.  The site was a mess.  And to add insult to injury, this “Presidential Palace” didn’t even come with so much as an outhouse!  Yes, I’m talking about the Chief Executive’s residence in Washington, D.C. – the White House.  In fact, while the Capital itself was still a work in progress, officials in New York and Philadelphia so despaired that Washington would ever be completed that they planned federal buildings in those cities, believing they would be the logical sites for the Capital.  Yet, despite its rocky and humble beginnings – not to mention being burned to the ground by the British in 1814 – today the White House is one of the best-known and important buildings in the entire world.  

Sometimes we forget that many great and wonderful things in our country had such slow and difficult beginnings.  Our culture is so conditioned and accustomed to achieving immediate and trouble-free success and instant results that we have forgotten that most things in life require a great deal of time and perseverance.  We are in great danger of demanding quick fixes for problems that require long-term solutions.  Then, if our endeavors are met with difficulty or detours, we judge the effort a failure and want to scrap the whole project.  This tends to be the case with scientific and medical research, healthcare and social security reform, the prosecution of war, or even our own personal growth and success.   Yes, perhaps the major endeavor for which we lose patience most is with ourselves.  

But consider the advice of James Garfield, when he was president of Hiram College and before he became a Civil War hero and President of the United States.  The father of one of the students approached President Garfield and asked if his son’s course of study could be shortened to allow him to finish as quickly as possible.  “Yes, we can do that,” Garfield replied.  “But it all depends on what you want to make of your son.  When God wants to make an oak tree he takes a hundred years.  When he wants to make a squash, he requires only two months.”

To this we add some advice from another President, Calvin Coolidge: “Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence.  Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent.  Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb.  Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts.  Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.  The slogan, ‘Press On,’ has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.”

The Scripture tells us, “You need perseverance, so that once you have done what God requires of you, you may receive what he has promised” (Hebrews 10:36) and “Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.” (Hebrews 12:1-2)

It’s worth remembering.  Outside of some divine intervention, all good things, including our own growth and success, require time and perseverance.  There are no shortcuts.

PRAYER:  Dear Father in heaven, please strengthen my resolve, stiffen my spine, and help me to persevere toward my own personal growth, development, and success.  In Jesus Holy Name, Amen.  

(From The Sustainer’s Faith: [19th ESC] A Year-Round Resource for Spiritual Resiliency)




1 thought on “January 2025 – Chaplain Newsletter”

  1. William McDaniel

    This was so encouraging to me. Its almost as if it were talking to me directly.
    Having had the desire to Serve The LORD
    since the early 70’s. I have since been ordained and endorsed as a Chaplain with
    the General Council of the Assemblies of God, yet still looking for an active ministry
    to serve.it seems they have been few and far between and I am still waiting for open doors. Thank you for this encouraging news letter!

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