Hello, Bridge Town Church, and those of you joining us online, my name is Bethany Allen,

and this is the Bridge Town Daily for Wednesday, April 22nd.

This week we've been meditating on and thinking through this idea of endurance.

A word I would argue we don't culturally use very often outside of exercise or athleticism.

Nor is it a word I think many of us truly understand well, particularly those of us in

the West. In light of our current moment, and honestly, I think in my desperate attempt

at gaining understanding or some kind of context for it, I've been going back to times in history

where similar realities of our moment were at play, times when people saw and survived

catastrophic loss, economic devastation or emotional desperation.

This week specifically I've been reflecting on the historic tragedy of the Holocaust and

of World War I and II. I've always been captivated by this time in history, especially

when I think about people like Anne Frank, and Cory Timboum, and Oscar Schindler, people

whose lives were marked by a profound resilience and fortitude.

Beyond survival, these along with millions of others endured more suffering than most

of us will ever know or experience in a lifetime, and yet as I reflect on their lives,

what I'm constantly struck by is despite their suffering, they seem to have come out

of it all, all the bitterness and loss and devastation, better people, or perhaps better

said the best of people. What is it or was it that made them this way? What caused them

to persevere, to hold on, to push through and rise up time and time again to greater faithfulness?

Paul in Romans chapter 5 speaks to this idea of endurance, and he does so in a way that

I think paints a picture of its power. In verse 1 he writes, therefore since we have

been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through

...