A few years back I had the privilege of delivering newspapers to businesses. You may stop reading and reply, “privilege?” and I would say, “Indeed.” I would wake up early in the AM after getting 1 1/2-2 1/2 hours of sleep (on a good day, 3 hours) hop into my vehicle and pick up newspapers. Without leading you down detail heavy information, I will simply say, my job was to pick up sorted newspapers (sections), join them together and then deliver them to stores, news racks, etc. What I enjoyed most about the route (gig) was the early mornings that allowed me to reflect heavily on life, purpose, Scripture, etc. On the road with hardly anyone else, just my Lord, me, and my music (many times Christian Hip Hop or jamming 91.7 with my boy G Man praise – shout out, lol). Nonetheless, I would learn many valuable lessons in my newspaper tenure (stretching over a course of 7 years) but one lesson I learned in particular was perseverance.

Newspaper routes did not stop for anything. Even when the post office wasn’t running, the paper man delivered newspapers: Rain, Sleet, or Snow. Occasionally, on Sundays we would get holiday papers or a surprised 4th section. I delivered roughly 800 papers on Sunday dispersed to me in 3 sections, but on these “glorious” days they would come in 4 sections, that is 800 papers multiplied by 4, which needed to be joined together and delivered to individual stores. On these days I would load up the van, or Uhaul, receive my papers and look at the incredible MOUNTAIN ahead of me. It looked like it would never be completed! It looked like it would never be accomplished, but I would continue to tell myself, complete one paper at a time and before you know it, I would see a dent in the action. I learned years ago that the only way to eat an elephant is to take one bite at a time and the only way to climb Mt. Everest is to take one step at a time. Not that you would eat an elephant, climb a mountain, or deliver newspapers, but you may just be the person who is starting a business, completing school, or writing a book. I want to encourage you in one word: PERSEVERE. To persevere means to persist in anything, or to maintain a purpose inspite of difficulty. Someone once said, “the road to success is dotted with many parking spaces.” There are a lot of opportunities for you to quit or throw in the towel, but in the words of Paul “do not become weary in doing well, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up” (Gal. 6:9). Thus, I encourage you to keep pushing, keep fighting, keep writing, keep biting, for in just a little while that which seems bleak will be a blessed memory of an accomplished purpose.

I leave you with these words by rapper LePatrick Hayter “start living life to the fullest, foot heavy on the gas. Chasing down your dreams like a runner gone mad. Cut off at the root, all the lies and depression…eyes facing heaven thanking God for progression”

– SE7EN