There are lots of reasons people get discouraged and give up. Many of them are obvious, but most of them boil down to a lack of success in some area of life. We fail in our relationhips, we fail in our finances, we fail in our jobs, we fail in our emotional or physical well-being. Then there are other people who seem to be doing very well by outward standards, but who lose their passion for God.
One of the more frustrating parts of flying is getting caught in a holding pattern over a busy airport. You know you’re right on top of it but you can’t do anything because there’s too many others ahead of you, and so you go round and round until you eventually get cleared to land.
Have you ever felt that about your life in general? Have you ever felt that the purposes of God have marched on and left you behind?
We all piled into the plane, and no sooner had we sat down the pilot informed us we couldn’t take off due to poor weather conditions at our destination. Which fact he knew perfectly well before we got on. And so we sat there for another hour, wondering why they couldn’t have left us in the departure lounge instead.
Waiting. Who likes it?
It is a strange feeling here at the Bible College in Athens. When you quote 1 or 2 Corinthians, you realize Corinth is just a couple hours drive away. Same with Thessalonica. Athens, where Paul confronted and began to destroy the fate-based civilization that controlled the thinking of the much of the ancient world, is just down the road.
