When people get to college they act very strangely. This is especially true at Christian colleges.

I know of a guy who, when he got to college, became an athlete. I think he was a moderate one before college but when he got there he just went crazy. He was into track and cross-country and took his bike on 100 mile trips because he was not getting enough exercise doing those two. He would stay up all night studying all the time too. He used religious reasons to justify his extreme behavior. He was a bit nuts but I was too. In addition to running cross-country, I swam 5 miles a week and I was trying so hard to get the best grades possible. Everyone I talked to seemed to be on a holy mission of going crazy with their studies and generally maximizing their potential, again for Jesus. I knew one girl who was so convinced that Jesus wanted her to maximize her potential in gym class that she ended up needing CPR from the instructor when she overdid her workout. Somehow, I just don’t think Jesus wanted that. I think I kept this up until the second semester of my sophomore year when I said, to myself ‘THIS SUCKS!’ and started having some fun. I was a lot happier and my grades went up too!

A guy I know just relayed a story to me of how he knew someone who felt he was called by the Lord to have a missionary boat. After a few years, he ran out of money and had to hide under bridges and other locations to avoid creditors. But he still kept on keeping on until one point it was just too much. Somehow I just don’t think that was God’s intention. You may feel called, but when is enough, enough?

For me, it is a very hard thing to grasp. Sometimes I find myself wondering where the big booming voice to give me direction is. God does not usually communicate with people this way and He has not with me. He may. But that is between the person and God. But God does not usually. When Moses was on the beach of the Red Sea, there was no word from God until He did His thing. It just happened. Moses had to have some faith and some wisdom. You may feel like this today. You may be saying to yourself, ‘Lord I thought you wanted me to do XYZ. I did it, do want me to continue? Have I given enough? Have I helped enough? Have I been patient enough? When is it enough?’

Now, lets look at the Bible for some kind of guidance in a situation where people may have wanted to say, ‘enough is enough’. Jesus was up on the hill, talking to a crowd of 5,000 people. They had all gone out there to see Jesus and find out what he was about. Somehow, they had all forgotten to bring food with them except for one little boy who had two loaves of bread and five fish. Jesus told his disciples to give EVERYONE something to eat. Now in that situation, you can depend on yourself or you can depend on God. Anyway, in that situation, they gave what they had. They did not give more than what they had. They did not break any laws to make it happen, except the laws of nature, which are up to God to break. They did not skin themselves (or dead people like the Chilean rugby team) to make it happen either. God did it. If half-way through they ran out, the principle would have to be, that is it, according to the Lord, enough is enough. But that did not happen, there was more than enough. God kept giving and supplying the need.

I am not saying that there will not be times when you will have no idea where the resources to accomplish the things that God has set you to do are going to come from. I am not saying that God will not ask you to give EVERYTHING you have, maybe even your life. However, when you are hiding under a bridge because you cannot pay the money you owe on taxes, repairs, etc…and God is not increasing you, it is time to start asking yourself, Lord is this still your will for my life?

Lord grant me the strength to change the things I can, grant me the serenity to accept the things i can’t, Lord grant me the wisdom to know the difference!

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