I used to fly for a living to augment our meager income when I was a young pastor. I trained pilots and flew charters. In that season of life, I become discouraged. I wanted to escape from the pressure of ministry. During that time, I was offered opportunities to fly full-time. In my discouraged and depressed state, the offers were appealing enough that I seriously considered leaving the ministry.

I was offered a job in Nevada flying tourists on sight-seeing flights along the Colorado River near the Grand Canyon. Another offer came in Washington to be a flight instructor. In Portland, Oregon, I was invited to switch from fixed wing to rotor wing (helicopter). After the transition, I would fly a helicopter advising of traffic conditions for a Portland TV station. The thought of escaping in each offer was very alluring.

All the offers ended with a “no” for several reasons. One, I wasn’t thinking straight at the time. I knew it but did not want to acknowledge the fact. I had also seen other pastors make similar decisions and rarely did those decisions end well. My brother offered me a verse as did a faithful pastor and friend that were used by the Lord to gently nudge me back to reality and spiritual sanity. The “no” to all the offers was finally fueled by the knowledge of my calling. God had not spoken.

What would be considered a dream job by others, was finally seen as a derailment of my life, and my calling. In the year that followed my decision to stay and not leave, a move of God’s Spirit fell on our church. In that revival, signs and wonders and healings the likes of which I have not seen since began to manifest. God used that experience to confirm my calling in the most powerful way. In part, it was the Lord revealing the blessing that comes when we stay the course and not give up.

Staying on the course of our calling does not mean our lives will feel good all the time. It’s like a marriage that lasts the test of time. A calling and a marriage will need to occasionally return to the original commitment to stay the course for better or for worse. The best is always yet to come for those who endure and remain committed no matter what comes along, especially when a challenging season arrives providing all the reasons why we should escape and not stay the original course.