Johnny and his perseverance.

Good Evening.

Of course, as usual, it's quite late and I can't sleep because I'm super pumped thinking about God.

Most of the time I have stories that I make up. Yeah, you all know...my word pictures. But this time I have a real story. Happened to me this semester. This year has been one of the roughest years of my life, not going to lie. At the beginning of the semester I was quite broken and I wondered if I was going to even make it through my classes.

The first day I attended my acting class there was a boy. His name was Johnny (it wasn't really Johnny but Johnny will have to do). Something about Johnny stuck out to me. There was this instant connection. Keep in mind Johnny's around 50 years old, so I'm not connecting in a whoa-he's-really-cute sort of a way. I'm talking about the connection where you wonder God, why is this person in my life. What are you trying to teach me? How are you using him in my life? Throughout the semester, every class period, I wondered this. I even sort of missed him when he wasn't there. For the life of me I couldn't figure it out. That is until tonight...

You see, one thing you need to know about Johnny is that Johnny struggled with this class. He tried so very hard. He would get up time and time again to perform yet his acting just wasn't very good. He often didn't follow the lesson plan, and many times he forgot his homework or simply completed the wrong assignment. Johnny didn't mean to do any of this. It just happened. And no matter how many times he failed he kept going...The professor would say, "Why don't you try this?" or "Why don't you try that?" Many times Johnny would come back and he would look at the professor and say, "I know what you're saying, but I think"...or..."Well, you said to work on this so I tried to work on it." The professor would say, "I commend you for admitting you don't understand. Why don't you try this." Johnny kept failing. The craziest part of all of this is that I don't think Johnny ever felt like he was failing…His success was in trying.

So where am I going with this?

Johnny reminds me of what we all should be like when running the race. To me, Johnny is the best representation of understanding mercy and grace I have yet to find in my short little time here. We all fall short. We do. But when you fall, you always get back up. It’s not a question about whether or not we have his grace or not. He covered that long ago.

To think that God loves us so much that He wants us to come to him and say, "I know what you're saying, but I think"...or..."Well, you said to work on this so I tried to work on it." Crazy that God wants us to come just like Johnny and say, "Hey, I don't get it. I'm struggling. Can you help?"

And then to think even more that God gave us His Word so we could get a "Why don't you try this?" or "You could try this too?" So many words of encouragement He's given us. So many ways of obtaining His way. So much love.

God doesn't ask us to win the race; He just asks us to finish. Our success is in trying.

And that is why I met Johnny. God only knows why he met me...and that's the beauty of it all.

Oh how fun!

Cheering you on as you run, and run, and run some more.

May you find yourself meeting a Johnny of your own.

Kaylee