Religion in Daily Life By the Rev. Edward Chinn, D.Min.

http://www.allsaintstorresdale.org

“Thanks to a persistent policeman who broke in through a window, bedridden TV news veteran David Brinkley was rescued from his burning home, authorities in Jackson, Wyoming, said” (The Philadelphia Inquirer, January 16, 2003). County Deputy Chad Sachse persisted, even though a security guard told him the home was not occupied. When he saw a television set on, he entered through a window and carried Brinkley to safety. Such an event makes us ponder the power of persistence. Remember that the late Jonas Salk failed 200 times before he found the right vaccine for polio. How thankful we are for his persistence!

The late actor Errol Flynn portrayed a boxer who knew the power of persistence. In 1942, the motion picture “Gentleman Jim” was released. Flynn portrayed a boxer named James Corbett who rose from being a bank teller to world boxing champion when he defeated John L. Sullivan in 1892. After he won the championship, a reporter asked Corbett, “What is it that makes a champion?” Gentleman Jim pointed out that each fighter has the same equipment-arms, legs, body, head. Then Corbett summed up the secret of being a champion in four words: “Fight one more round!” He told the reporter, “The man who fights one more round is never whipped.”

Modern advertising knows the power of persistence. Advertisers have taken the old Chinese water torture and made it a way to sell their products. Legend says the Chinese tortured a prisoner by allowing drop after drop of water to fall on the prisoner’s head. Others have cited the power of persistence. In the century before Jesus was born, a Roman poet named Lucretius said: “The fall of dropping water wears away the stone.” Shakespeare echoed that thought, writing, “Much rain wears the marble” (King Henry the Sixth, Act III, Scene II). When Jesus told us to ask, seek, and knock (Luke 11:9), the verbs are in the present tense implying persistent continuous action.

Jesus of Nazareth gave us three word-pictures of persistence. Some of Jesus’ fellow-countrymen criticized him for touching the untouchables and reaching out to persons who had been written off by society’s leaders. Defending himself, Jesus sketched a persistent shepherd who goes after a lost sheep “until he finds it.” He sketched a persistent woman who searches for a lost silver piece “until she finds it.” He described a loving father who persisted in keeping a lookout for a lost son until the son was making his way home, then the father ran and embraced him and welcomed the son home (Luke 15:1-32). In these sketches, Jesus gave us and embodied the persistent love of the Good Father above who will not let us down, who will not let us off, and who will not let us go!