The past, unlike the future, is clear. I know where I started and where I have been. Where I am and where I am going is a different story. What little I thought I knew has been challenged. There is nothing that is really sure. One is born, he lives, and he dies. Therefore even the sure things of this life cannot measure up to the expanse of eternity our souls are designed to experience. To dwell on the past, in many ways, cannot be beneficial. Can the same be said of the future? "Now Listen, you who say, Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money. Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes." (James 4:13-14) To talk of our plans as if we have an assurance of their coming to pass seems nothing short of lunacy. Yet, we must strive for something. We must not sit stagnate while waiting for the inevitable. "Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead..." (Philippians 4:12b) I learned from one of my closest friends that it doesn't matter how you start, but how you finish, so we must fight to finish strong. "Him who overcomes I will make a pillar in the temple of my God. Never again will he leave it I will also write on him my new name." (Revelation 3:12) Every individual has to choose each day whether they will strive to overcome, or give up and let the world continue toward hell without resistance. The irony of it all is that to overcome, one must first surrender. To win, one must forfeit; to be raised up, one must first bow down. "He will keep you strong to the end," (1 Corinthians 1:8) We must find the fundamental motivation to continue doing what we know is right, no matter how difficult the task because the task that is laid before us has not been placed there by human hands. "Instead, you ought to say, If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that. It is only by His will, in His time, in His power we accomplish anything at all." (James 4:15) "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me." (Galatians 2:20) By ourselves, we are nothing and can do nothing. With Christ, we have no limitations. Anything He wants to accomplish, we can do together. Sure, there are times I don't particularly enjoy the things He has planned for me, and that is where trust comes in. One of my mentors gave me this analogy: God leads me to the edge of a cliff. It's beautiful here. Down below, I see a valley. From what I can see, it is mostly barren, there are a few sick-looking trees here and there with patches of grass and weeds scattered about. I look again and see there are also springs of water and a few places where flowers grow, but most of it is hidden in the shadows. God speaks to my heart. He says, "Look at Me." When I look up and my focus is on Him, everything is okay. I am in God's presence and I know I am safe. It doesn't matter what is in that valley. When He tells me to take a step, the depth of my trust is revealed. I thought I trusted Him until I realized I was in the valley. The faith I thought could stand against a mountain was shown in such a light I could see it was merely a house of cards, blown over and scattered by the winds of tragedy and change. Now I am in the process of rebuilding, only instead of cards, I use bricks. Next time the winds come, I will not be shaken.