What Exactly is Heroism? Is it Strength... Endurance... Patience?

In his book Job: A Man of Heroic Endurance, Charles R. Swindoll examines what Job’s sufferings can teach us about humanity and faith. In Scripture, Job is the central figure in the Book of Job, which focuses on God’s justice during difficult times, and how God guides us through times of suffering. Ultimately, Job endures many trials and often feels abandoned by God. However, God never actually abandons Job.

Swindoll's book teaches readers how to embrace God’s challenges. Using Job as an example, he explains that we find answers to our questions in unexpected places — and God doesn’t always give us the answers we expect. Epitomizing strength, endurance, and patience, we can all learn from Job’s life story. 

Heroes come in all forms. Job doesn’t stand idly by watching his life crash down around him. He consciously endures the trials God throws at him. Battening down and enduring hardships are heroic qualities. Life is unavoidably difficult. What separates heroes from the rest of us is how they deal with those difficulties. Just as Job learns the most about himself when he is suffering, we learn through our mistakes and disappointments. We rarely learn anything about our spirituality or ourselves when life is easy. Challenges make heroes of us.

Job suffers in the way we all suffer; his life is terribly unfair. Many can relate to his problems: he loses his family, his property, and his health, and his life is one catastrophe after another. However, because these catastrophes are timeless, Job speaks to everyone regardless of what era they live in. Job represents humanity. One of Job’s most poignant moments is when he loses all ten of his children at the same time. Standing over their graves, wondering what to do with his life, his wife tells him to renounce God, to give up and let his grief consume him, the way it consumes her. Job, however, refuses to give in. He simply vocalizes his faith in God. It doesn’t matter how God treats Job — Job never strays from the path.

Job suffers every insult imaginable. His friends turn on him; covered in agonizing welts and sores, everyone says he is to blame for his own misfortune. Job asks God for guidance, but God never answers him. Somehow, through this silence, Job stays true to God, and God finally rewards him. Yet, God’s rewards are never certain, and it takes an incredible amount of trust by Job to believe in Him.

God doesn’t bless Job with any special powers to help him endure what life throws at him. All Job has is his humanity, and this is what saves him. This is comforting; we are all capable of enduring life’s trials.

Gotta Roll,

Paul J. Staso

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Visit my YouTube channel -- https://www.youtube.com/user/pacetrek

Click on any of the links below to see some of my adventure photos:

• United States in 2006 (3,260 miles solo in 108 days at age 41)
• Montana in 2008 (620 miles solo in 20 days at age 43)
• Alaska in 2009 (500 miles solo in 18 days at age 44)
• Germany in 2010 (500 miles solo in 21 days at age 45)
• The Mojave Desert in 2011 (506 miles solo in 17 days at age 46)
• Various Photos From Mileposts Gone By
• Students Worldwide Who Ran With Me Virtually
• Roadside Sights From My Running Adventures
• Some Cycling Moments From The Past

Despite Our Wayward Ways, God's Love is Steadfast -- Always.

It wasn't until the year 2020 that I became a Catholic. For 43 years prior to that, I was a Baptist. I was baptized in 1977 at the age of 12 at a Baptist church in Alaska. On June 28, 2020 I was blessed through the Rite of Christian Initiation to come into Full Communion with The Roman Catholic Church. Significant preparation and study were a part of that spiritual journey. My lovely wife, Kelley, has been a Catholic since the cradle and I have attended the Catholic church with her for many years. We attend Mass weekly and I'm blessed to be leading junior high faith formation (Sunday school).

For the past five years, I've written about a variety of topics in this blog. Most of those writings have not had anything to do with my faith. That is now going to change. If I'm going to post writings to this blog, those writings are going to be connected to my Catholic faith. I've spent a lot of time in prayer over the past year and have realized that I seem to give more credit to myself for the successes in my life than to the One from whom those successes actually flow. God is the One who has moved me from a life raft bobbing up and down in wayward seas to a steady ship that is guided by His wind and will. It is to Him that I give all gratitude, glory, honor and praise.

For those who have frequented my writings since I first began to post online in 2005, you will now see a change in tone... a change in focus. My writings will not be as frequent, but will be connected to my Catholic faith. If you've felt that your life has been like a cork bobbing up and down on uncontrollable seas, this blog may help -- in some small way -- to set your sights on the horizon and on what God can do when you give your life to Him. Others may criticize or judge you, but keep in mind that it is not to others that you must ultimately answer when you cross life's finish line.

Through God's plan for my athletic life, I've been blessed to run solo across the United States, Germany, Alaska, Montana, and the Mojave Desert. However, as Psalm 147:10-11 tells us: "He takes... no pleasure in the runner’s stride. Rather the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear Him, those who put their hope in His mercy." God doesn't take pleasure in what I can accomplish with my legs. He wants me to fear him -- which means to have reverence for Him -- and to put my hope in Him. That's what God truly wants from me, and from all of us. Through my athletic career, the miles I've conquered add up to be nearly two laps of planet earth -- about 50,000 miles. Sadly, my past track record shows that I've given myself far more credit for those miles than I've given to God. As a Christian, that was wrong.

For countless years I actually lived the words of Romans 5:3 ("suffering produces endurance"). Then, my life seemed to be focused on the initial words of Romans 5:4 ("endurance produces character"). These days, the tide has turned and God has blessed my life with calm seas, easier sailing, and blessings that I never imagined on those days long ago when I wondered what was beyond the horizon for me. Now, my life is more focused on the second part of Romans 5:4 -- "character produces hope." God is indeed good... all the time.

From Him, Through Him, For Him (Romans 11:36),

Paul J. Staso

_______________________________________

Visit my YouTube channel -- https://www.youtube.com/user/pacetrek

Click on any of the links below to see some of my adventure photos:

• United States in 2006 (3,260 miles solo in 108 days at age 41)
• Montana in 2008 (620 miles solo in 20 days at age 43)
• Alaska in 2009 (500 miles solo in 18 days at age 44)
• Germany in 2010 (500 miles solo in 21 days at age 45)
• The Mojave Desert in 2011 (506 miles solo in 17 days at age 46)
• Various Photos From Mileposts Gone By
• Students Worldwide Who Ran With Me Virtually
• Roadside Sights From My Running Adventures
• Some Cycling Moments From The Past