Shipwrecked!

Disney did it to the Pirates of the Caribbean film franchise. The suits did it by building California Adventure 1.0. Corporations succumb, fueled on by shareholder's greed and desire for more money. Celebrities do it to themselves by believing their own press. And we are no less capable of it: we shipwreck our lives and goals by stupid choices made for multiple reasons.

Sometimes, it is just our desire for instant gratification. We throw away valuable relationships as lust overtakes us, leaving broken hearts and families. We indulge in excess drink, food, and sex, looking for what will satisfy the loneliness inside, yet leaving us emptier than before. We desert our faith when the going gets rough. We opt for the easy way out instead of choosing to live with integrity. We lie because it hurts too much to tell the truth, especially to ourselves. It's the human condition, the broken nature of each of us. It just gets expressed differently, doesn't it?
The great Apostle Paul warns his young charge Timothy to stand firm in the faith, and in doing so, surviving life:

"Timothy, my son, I give you this instruction in keeping with the prophecies once made about you, so that by following them you might fight the good fight, holding on to faith and a good conscience. Some have rejected these and so have shipwrecked their faith." I Timothy 1:19

Do you remember the things that are true about you and about God when times are hard? This is one way to stay strong and not give in to destructive thoughts and disastrous behaviors. Choose obedience to what and Who you know is right. Jesus is always there for us, but in order to see Him at work in our life situations, we must submit to his ways instead of our own. This is trust; this is faith in action.

Let me encourage you. Just persevere. It is much easier to press into hardship now than to try to clean up a bigger mess later by choosing to avoid it and doing something stupid. Pay the price now and you'll reap the rewards later.