There is a Japanese proverb I read I reckon is pretty good.   “Fall seven times, stand up eight.”
The reason I like that is because to me it encapsulates what I hold to.  It reminds me of something else I heard and that is that there is no such thing as a mistake unless it is an act of mine unlearned from.  Not learning from something is a domain I do not want to stay in.
From my experience even when I know something is right for me life is not all rar, rar.  I agree with Newt Gingrich, “perseverance is the hard work you do after you get tired of doing the hard work you already did.”
Fortunately that is not to say there is no end in sight.  I have always liked when on a long road trip seeing the sign that said my destination was say 100 kilometres and then 50  and then I was there.  300 kilometres out the destination would seem a long way out.
The thing for me is it was a long way out, but persistence meant arrival.  I could have given up any time.  I could have decided a closer place would do.  But the reason I chose a particular destination was because of what it contained.  To give up is to forfeit my goal.  I substitute sooner happiness for the happiness of achieving and the expanded world it offers.
I could have stayed in Townsville.  It was secure.  I knew people.  I enjoyed life.  But Brisbane called.  It was full of the unknown.  I had a couple of contacts, but I left my security and entered a world of unknowns to grow.
It worked out.  I made mistakes and learned from them, and I enjoyed successes beyond my imagination.  I would have never known the joy of winning some unforeseen battles staying in a cocoon of security.
As a Charles Spurgeon once said, “by perseverance the snail reached the ark.”  As Dory encourages me in Finding Nemo “just keep swimming”.  By perseverance my destination is reached.

It is amazing to me how I am drawn to some words and don’t like others.  In passing today I saw the word “abound.”  It is not dictionary day but I  wanted to look up the meaning of the word as I was attracted to it.
I looked it up in various sources and basically it means to exist in large numbers, be plentiful or, something I particularly liked was, “teem.”
My mind went straight to our outreach lunches.  We feed a lot of people.  One could say we punch above our weight.  Yet it was something I do at the end that I relate to abound.  I am normally in charge of taking the tables down and setting up for church the next day.
What amazes me is how so many just get in and do what needs to be done.  There is washing up to be done, rubbish to take out, sweeping to do, and lots of other things. Things easy as a one offs (like bringing in signs) but in addition to many other things they add up to a lot of stuff that needs to be done.
I remove and put away tables and set up chairs for the next day.  People just emerge to help.  For one person my part would take several hours alone.  Yet helpers abound and it is all over within ½ an hour.
I often think what would take one perhaps 2 hours takes 2 one hour, four 30 minutes and 8 15 minutes.  To me enough is good but more than enough is better.
There have been a number of things Merril and I have done that have been made easier to do because help abounded.  Help given because it was well helpful and the reward was personal satisfaction.
It is the way I like to be in my personal life also, though I don’t do it as often as I would like. 
I prefer to be over-prepared than to be unprepared.  Though I do think I was over-prepared for a medical test one time.  I thought because of the type of test I was having the gown needed to be a different way.  The one doing the test said to me “I think you over thought this.”  I felt like an old testament prophet who had “girded up his loins.”
Anyway that is neither here nor there.  I know I can trust you.  You won’t tell anyone will you?
Abound is a word I like.  I reckon having a plentiful amount of helpers is great.  Works for me.

I received an email this morning that was entitled “Expect the Unexpected.”  Well, getting that email was a start.
Yet it is what I have been experiencing in recent times.  In a way I have had desires I hoped for and worked towards and yet I am totally surprised that what has been something I looked forward to, has actually arrived.  In a sense it was what I was expecting and working towards and doing stuff in preparation, but it is suddenly here.
I guess I should not be surprised but I am.  It was like I had a hope that I was deferring.  I had done heaps of preparation, but nothing was happening apart from that preparation.  I had reached the point of thinking “what is the point?”
It is weird but what I held to and would say to anyone was “hold on to the expectation because it may be a while in coming but it will come.”
I am a great believer in preparation.  I think of someone running a marathon.  The person spends a lot of time doing what needs to be done so that when the time comes, they are ready to run.  If I was told to run a marathon, I would not be ready.  I would probably be good from one telephone pole to the next, but I would have trouble going the distance.  I would not be prepared.
I remember distinctly joining a gym and feeling like what they did was like “the perfect crime”.  I was not in a position to do what was asked, and reckon it would have just about killed me.  I thought it was a perfect crime because hey, I was at the gym.  For some what was asked would be water off a ducks back but for me at the time it was a bridge too far.
The marathon may be in a year’s time.  If I had to run it (please God no) I would prepare so I could be the best I could be.  In the same way I prepare for other things that seem totally right for me, but I do not know when what I have acquired will be needed.
I was doing that and never had the goal seemed more distant and unattainable.  But as the email was headed “expect the unexpected.”  Preparation is worth it no matter the seeming delay.  For me it is a case of just being ready.