In the book, “Same Kind of Different as Me,” by Denver Moore and Ron Hall, Ron wrote the following about his wife’s struggle with cancer.  He said, “The medicine took her down quickly, slashing her weight to one hundred pounds.  Still, she was determined to eradicate the enemy and insisted on trying different kinds of chemo treatments, sometimes in the same week, hoping to incinerate the cancer with the medical equivalent of napalm.  At home, whenever she could lift her head off her pillow, she slipped on her Reeboks and we would walk together.  The kids and I couldn’t get her to stop, even when she ran out of strong.”  Those last seven words resonated with me: “… even when she ran out of strong.”

In their book, “Leadership on the Line,” Ron Heifetz and Marty Linsky state, “You can’t cook without a pot to cook in, and leadership is as much about strengthening the pot and controlling the temperature as it is about which ingredients to add when.”

Whether it is a woman struggling with cancer, a pot holding the stew, a parent struggling with a wayward child, financial problems, addictions, a marriage holding only by a thread, a crisis of faith, or some other life circumstance; the struggle we all face is – to not run out of strong.

In life, the struggles are real.  The tragedy is that sometimes, aside from Jesus, we are the only one who knows exactly how real.  Why?  Because we think it a sign of weakness to share our innermost struggles, feelings, and failures with others.  Therefore, we become expert at suppressing our feelings and holding up our Wal-mart Smiley Faces for the world to see.  We’ve become masters of deceit – hiding our hurts, disappointments, frustrations, and innermost feelings.  After all, what would others think of us if they knew the struggles burdens we are bearing.  So, we just keep struggling along – hoping to God that we don’t – run out of strong.

In Matthew 11:28-30(KJV), Jesus gives us a prescription for how to not run out of strong.  He said, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.  For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”  You will note that even though Jesus acknowledges that there will come times when His followers will both labor and be heavy laden, He never promises to remove those burdens.  However, He does promise physical rest and that if His followers will come to Him, take on His yoke, and learn of Him, He will also give rest for their souls.  So, if we don’t want to run out of strong, then our instructions are clear.  We are to come to Jesus, take on His yoke, and learn of Him.  Then we will find the strength we need to run the race that is set before us.

Again, whether it is a woman struggling with cancer, a pot holding the stew, a parent struggling with a wayward child, financial problems, addictions, a marriage holding only by a thread, a crisis of faith, or some other life circumstance; the struggle we all face is – to not run out of strong.

Reality check:  None of us are the Energizer Bunny!  We don’t have an infinite supply of energy or strong.  We cannot keep going forever.  And unless we come to Jesus for rest, there will come a time when we run out of strong!

Brother Aaron