Still Rolling

In January 2004, NASA's Opportunity rover landed on Mars with a mission designed to last ninety days. Engineers expected the little rover to travel about six hundred meters before the harsh Martian dust storms would coat its solar panels and drain its batteries for good.

Opportunity lasted nearly fifteen years.

It traveled over twenty-eight miles across the Martian surface, surviving dust storms, software glitches, and mechanical wear that should have ended its journey many times over. When dust covered its panels, Martian winds would unexpectedly sweep them clean. Engineers on Earth kept uploading new code to work around failing parts. The rover just kept rolling.

The apostle Paul knew something about outlasting the mission parameters others had set for him. Shipwrecked, stoned, imprisoned — by any reasonable measure, his ministry should have ended a dozen times. Yet he wrote from a Roman cell, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith" (2 Timothy 4:7).

Your perseverance in faith works much the same way. There will be seasons when the dust of grief, doubt, or exhaustion settles over you and the power feels like it is fading. But God sends unexpected winds of grace to clear the way. He renews your spirit with fresh mercies every morning. You were not designed for a ninety-day faith.

Keep rolling. The mission is not over yet.