Jesse Joyner, PhD

"We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by
faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in
our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Thess 1:3, NIV).

People always ask me, "How did you get into juggling?" I tell them that a
friend taught me in middle school. I learned how to juggle three balls
and then wanted to learn more. For whatever reason, I was fascinated with
juggling. To me, it was fun and I could challenge myself to learn new
tricks and juggle more objects. So I did whatever I could to learn more.
I checked out books on juggling from the library and devoured them. I met
some local people that also juggled and learned things from them. Before
I knew it, I was performing for parties and events.

People also often tell me, "Oh, I could never juggle" or "I tried that
when I was younger and I could never really figure it out." You see,
people think juggling is some sort of innate gift that people have from
birth. That is not true. Anyone can juggle – as long as they endure the
practice.

I cannot tell you how many times I have dropped my juggling props. I have
spent hours at a time trying to master a certain trick or numbers goal in
juggling. And much of that time is spent picking everything up off the
ground after a failed attempt.

You cannot learn how to juggle without dropping. I remember Darren
Collins teaching a class on juggling and telling the group to
intentionally drop their juggling balls to the ground. Then he said, "Get
used to doing that!" I once read or heard a good juggler quote that went
something like this: "A good juggler always picks up one more time than
he/she drops."

So why do some people endure in juggling and others don't? It has to do
with the love of the game. If you have a passion for juggling (which I
do), then you will make a way to get to your goal despite all the drops.
If you are only somewhat interested in juggling, then you will quickly
give up after a few failed attempts. But if you have a genuine hope that
you will finally juggle those three balls, then you will make it.

Here is where this matters for our faith – the hope we have in Jesus is
what inspires us to endure in our faith (1 Thess 1:3). Endurance in the
Bible is often tied to persecution. People would endure trials and pains
because they kept their sights on the bigger picture of life –
relationship with Jesus Christ. And that is better than life itself.
Jesus endured the cross because of His love for us. It is His love that
draws us, and we respond with a passionate love for Him. When we are
passionately in love with Jesus, we will endure, despite our many failures
and the constant temptations of the world. But this is not because of our
strength. Rather, it is God who gives us endurance (Rom 15:4).

Here is where this matters to our jobs and ministries – when we refocus on
the end goal of our ministries (bringing God glory and spreading His
Word), we shall endure. Let us return to Jesus Christ as the sole object
of our love and devotion. It is easy to lose hope and lose sight of our
purpose several years into a vocation. But when we remember why we are
doing what we are doing and return to the bare minimun purpose for our
vocations, we shall endure.

Jesse Joyner
[ www.jessethejuggler.com ]www.jessethejuggler.com