Do It Again!
Teenagers are notorious for short attention spans and a focus that is easily distracted. Such was my demeanor at 16 years of age when I spent the summer with my grandfather helping him remodel a fishing cabin into his retirement home. The one thing working in my favor was that I had always loved granddad deeply and looked forward to spending time with him again. That, and the fact I really wanted to learn the carpentry skills he had promised to teach me if I spent the summer working with him. One of the first tasks we faced was demolishing a large concrete front porch to make room for an addition that would become a hallway and master bedroom. After breakfast granddad met me outside holding a 16 lb. sledge hammer in his hand. As I lifted that tool and felt its weight I thought, “Wow, this is going to be fun breaking up this concrete! This won’t take long at all.” After several swings of the hammer, along with a distinct stinging vibration in my hands and arms with each stroke, there was no visible change in the large, thick slab of concrete. Granddad must have read my discouraged thoughts, because he simply said, “Do it again.” So I did.
He said, “Again.” He didn’t say ‘harder,’ not ‘quicker,’ not ‘stronger,’ just ‘again.’ Again, and again. Eventually cracks began to form and slowly the porch was reduced to rubble that we could carry away.
At first blush, learning to follow Jesus appears to be such an exciting adventure because it’s all “new” to us as we discover the Bible and sense the love and freedom of forgiveness communicated to our hearts by the Holy Spirit. Somewhere along the way though, discouragement sets in as the once new lifestyle becomes routine or even burdensome. That’s when we hear God gently speak to us about the things we have left off doing, or what we want to lay aside, as He says, “Do it again.” Not just mere repetition, but rather a re-energizing of old routine with the new life of His Presence.
As we obey and persist we experience His life again. We realize the value of praying, reading, serving and loving again, and again, and again!
How exciting to be His people,
Pastor David Vanderpool
