Blessings to share Part 2....

But the one who endures to the end will be saved.

                                                                                      - Jesus

Today my blessing to share is a man named David Wilkerson.

2011 among many things marked the deaths of two Christian legends of recent times. The world may not have heard of them. To the world they may have just been two old men who lived out their course, but to God, they're lives are as important as the air we breathe. Their names- John Stott and the man mentioned above, the blessing I'd like to share with you.

Now the story goes as follows. One day, a man was sitting in his house reading a magazine, and caught sight of an article which immediately drew him. There was the picture of several young men from New York City, recently charged with murder. Something moved inside him and he knew God was calling him to do something. In February 1958 aged 26, he moved from his church in Pennsylvania to New York, in the hope of reaching out to street youths just like these ones. This man was David Wilkerson. There he would meet Nicky Cruz and one of the most notorious gangs in NYC at the time, the Mau Maus. Nicky and many of the Mau Maus actually became Christians over the course of time (though some did turn back to their old lives, some not living long enough to turn back again). God used this man to reach out to the lowest of the low. In the heavens his name will never be forgotten.

To me he is an example of steadfastness and endurance, spending over 50 years in the service of the Lord. Now some of us will make it to the end, still serving God. Some won't. Some will fall away, some will give up, some will get tired and no longer consider the road worth treading. But some will be at the point of giving up and God himself will strengthen them. Some will have their head face down in the dirt, having been battered and bruised by the devil and God will make them to stand, as they trust in him and not their own weakness.

There are times when we feel to give up, it's true. There are times when we feel like throwing in the towel. There are times when we know God is strong but we are so weak we are unsure how much longer we can carry on. I had one of those times this week. But I know I would rather die, knowing God took me than to be destroyed by the enemy, because I gave up. I know I would rather lose my life a double amputee, but still in God's service than to lose my life having not endured. In whatever situation God puts us in we must endure, until he brings us through it. He is more than able, as I am finding out. When we ask God for strength in the hard times, he is faithful to answer us.

David Wilkerson did it. John Stott ran the race and won the prize, having endured to the end. Will we do the same? Each one of us can do more than we think we can. Keep going.