Shift would be over soon. The sun was about to set and the brilliant orange sky was blazing but slowly it began to fade. Soon darkness would cover the valley floor and work would go on. We were into our third day of a 7/14 shift. Working 7 days a week and 14 hours a day. That meant we started when it was cold and dark and finished in the same way. The viaduct repair and expansion job was going into its last month and I could only dream of leaving the Fresno valley and heading back to Utah to get some R&R.
I was traveling with my Ironworking ‘gang’, more or less a group of 5 of us that moved from one overtime job to the next. We had swung out through Nevada to California and this was our last job.
As the shift finished we were heading to the small motel we were staying at right on the outskirts of Fresno. I was ready for a hot shower and some bed time. Parking outside our rooms, l slid out of the seat and moved toward my door and was about to unlock it when I heard my name being called from the office that was about 100 yards away. “Mr. Weston, sir….you have had many phone calls today and the lady has asked every time if you could call this number when you got here.” I could see the clerk was holding on to a slip of paper and I headed toward her. As she handed it me I saw it was my home number and asked if I could use the phone in the office. She referred me to the payphones out near the highway. I as entered the phone booth and dialed the operator to place a collect call, my mind raced, “What could be the problem?” Finally, I heard the phone ringing and on the second ring a woman’s voice answered, accepting the charges, I heard my mother in law say with a frantic voice, “John, Billy has run away again and June is out trying to track him down!” I leaned my head against the booth’s glass. My step son was gone and my wife out after him. I thought “Not again, why can’t that boy just stay put for a week?” I said exhaustedly, “Julia, I don’t think I will be able to get back home in time to do any good.” I could hear the dejection in her voice as she said, “John, I don’t understand why that boy runs away!”
How often do we feel like running away? Pressures from jobs and family, situations that lead us to feel the only solution is to run fast and far. RuthAnn and I have a standing joke about a desert island. Taking off and just laying on a white sand beach looking out over a blue-sky meeting beautiful blue sea. Away from the world and any responsibilities. Man, that sounds good to me when things get tough I can smell the salt air. But as often as we talk about it we also know it isn’t the answer. We have come realize that it is in those tough times God is forging our character!
The apostle Peter tells us this, “And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen and establish you.” (1Peter 5:10) We will suffer but when we do God promises four things that will grow our character. Let’s look a little deeper.
First, He will restore you. Another word is reinstate. Bring you back from a fallen state either physically or spiritual. Restoring you from the pain or suffering. God’s Word says this, “God, your God, will restore everything you lost; he’ll come back and pick up the pieces from all the places where you were scattered.” (Deuteronomy 30:3 MSG). Promise one you will be restored.
Second, He will confirm you. Validate, support, or prove you justified. But it will not be because of you or even because you have suffered but because our faith is in Jesus Christ we can have this kind of peace, “Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ has done for us. (Romans 5:1) Promise two you will be justified in Jesus and through that find peace.
Thirdly He will strengthen you. Bring you back from the weakened state that your trial might leave you in. His power will become yours. This is awesome, “God will strengthen you with His own great power so that you will not give up when troubles come, but will be patient.” (Colossians 1:11) Promise three He will supply all the strength you will ever need.
Fourth, when the trial is over He will establish you. You stand on firmer ground, faith increased because you see now even though we are not promised a pain-free life without tribulations. God is there, you can trust fully that, “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which come upon you for your testing, as through some strange thing were happening to you, but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation. (1Peter 4:12-13) Promise four is you will be established in Him, your suffering will bring joy, if not here than in the kingdom to come.
That step son of mine was found in a town in southern Utah, he was returned home but ran away two more times before he came to see that running away was getting him nowhere. I have lost contact with him but last I heard, he had grown into a good man.
As often as we would like to run when trials come, God promises us He will be there every step of the way and even though I still dream of that desert island I know for today I will trust God’s promises, how about you?
Blessings John
7/26/17
Run or stand firm on God’s promises
