When The Going Gets Tough

WHEN THE GOING GETS TOUGH 2 Tim 1:1-12

INTRO:

Response to an Insurance Company

I am writing in response to your request for additional information. In block #3 of the accident form, I put “trying to do the job alone” as the cause of my accident. You said in your letter that I should explain more fully, and I trust that the following details will be sufficient.

I am a bricklayer by trade. On the date of the accident I was working alone on the roof of a new six story building. When I completed my work, I found that I had about 500 pounds of brick left over. Rather than carry the bricks down by hand, I decided to lower them in a barrel by using a pulley which fortunately was attached to the side of the building at the 6th floor. Securing the rope at ground level, I went up to the roof, swung the barrel out, and loaded the bricks into it. Then I went back to the ground and untied the rope, holding it tightly to insure a slow descent of the 500 pounds of brick. You will note in block #11 of the accident report that I weigh 135 pounds. But to my surprise at being jerked off the ground so suddenly, I lost my presence of mind and forgot to let go of the rope. Needless to say, I proceeded at a rather rapid rate up the side of the building. In the vicinity of the third floor, I met the barrel coming down. This explains the fractured skull, and broken collar bone. Slowed only slightly, I continued my rapid ascent, not stopping until the fingers of my right hand were 2 knuckles deep into the pulley. Fortunately, by this time, I had regained my presence of mind, and was able to hold tightly to the rope, in spite of my pain. At approximately the same time, however, the barrel of bricks hit the ground, and the bottom fell out of the barrel. Devoid of the weight of the bricks, the barrel then weighed approximately 50 pounds.

I refer you again to my weight in block#11. As you might imagine, I began a rapid descent down the side of the building. In the vicinity of the third floor, I met the barrel coming up. This accounts for the two fractured ankles, and the lacerations of my legs, and lower body area. The encounter with the barrel slowed me enough to lessen my injuries when I fell onto the pile of bricks, and fortunately only three vertebrae were cracked. I am sorry to report, however, that as I lay there on the bricks, in pain … unable to stand … and watching the empty barrel six stories above me … I again lost my presence of mind and let go of the rope. The empty barrel weighed more than the rope, so it came back down on me, and broke both my legs.

I hope I have furnished the information you have required.

All of us live with trouble. Job 5:7 Yet man is born to trouble

as surely as sparks fly upward.

John 16:33 "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."

Most people know how to handle the good time. It is the time of trouble in which they need help.

How do we handle the tough times of life?

Read 2 Tim 1:1-12

I. THROUGH A CONTROLLED LIFE

A. Paul tells us that God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline. v. 7

B. To be victorious in life we need to :

Choose to suffer if need be, than to give into a life of impulse. v. 8

• NKJV “sound mind” = clear understanding, sound judgment

• There is a tendency to let our minds wonder and let Satan finish the picture for us.

• There is a philosophy that says “if it feels good, do it.”

• We operate more on our feelings than we do on what is right.

• In other words, God does not intend that defeat should be the norm of Christian living. We should be disciplined Christians rather than slaves to our emotions. We are all moved by our emotions. That is why people will send money to organizations that advertise with the picture of a poor, hungry, little orphan. But Christians are not to be motivated by their emotions. Our emotions are not to master us. We are to be disciplined. J. Vernon McGee

Choose to not be ashamed when all others feel you are wrong.

• Paul tells Timothy not to be ashamed to testify or of him. He knew there would be a tendency for Timothy to shrink away from him because he was in prison.