Tenacity

They set off to spend eight days at the space station. The trip lasted nine months. On March 18, 2025, two NASA astronauts who had been in orbit since June, Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, splashed down in calm, azure waters off the coast of the Florida Panhandle, concluding a saga that had captivated the country since last summer.

Ms. Williams and Mr. Wilmore blasted off in June of 2024 for the International Space Station on their test flight of Starliner. This was a Boeing spacecraft that was to provide NASA with another option, outside of SpaceX, to carry astronauts to and from orbit. But the Starliner experienced problems with its propulsion system, prompting NASA to send it back to Earth with no crew aboard.

They had a grateful, patient attitude about the whole experience. “It’s work. It’s fun. It’s been trying at times, no doubt,” Mr. Wilmore said in an interview. “But ‘stranded’? No. ‘Stuck’? No. ‘Abandoned’? No.” Ms. Williams added, “You get a little bit more time to enjoy the view out the window.”

By the end of their journey, Ms. Williams and Mr. Wilmore had traveled nearly 121,347,500 miles, having orbited the earth 4,576 times. Mr. Wilmore has spent a total of 31 hours conducting spacewalks during his career and Ms. Williams 62 hours, a record for a woman astronaut.

Possible Preaching Angles:

Life is like this… unpredictable, with lots of twists and turns and a need for patience. But we can also see the presence of Jesus in never stranding or abandoning us.

In the 2023 South East Asia 500-meter race, one runner showed what it really means to run the race well. Despite the pounding rain and her last place finish, Bou Samnang refused to give up. Cheering fans encouraged the native Cambodian as she finished the race on behalf of her country, six minutes after the race was decided.

Despite knowing that she would not finish first place, Bou Samnang was determined to finish well. According to one news source she said, "I tried to reach the finish line because I wanted to show people that in life, even though we go a bit slow or fast, we will reach our destination all the same."

It would have been easy for her to stop running, especially as she was dealing with anemia which prevented her from running as fast as she would have liked. But her determination and endurance has led to her inspiring fans around the world.

Possible Preaching Angle:

Paul wrote that our faith journey resembles a race. Running the race well doesn’t always mean finishing first. It does mean, working hard for something outside of yourself, persisting with a goal, and enduring hard times for Christ. We are encouraged to be like Bou Samnang, and through the power of the Holy Spirit, endure to the end.

In their book The Power of Moments, Chip and Dan Heath describe an experiment in which participants underwent three painful trials. In the first, they submerged a hand for 60 seconds in a bucket filled with frigid, 57-degree water.

In the second trial, the time was increased by 30 seconds. For the first 60 seconds, the water was still 57-degrees. But in the final 30 seconds, it was raised to 59-degrees. In neither trial were participants told how long the experiment would last.

Before their third and final bucket, they were asked if they'd prefer to repeat the first or second experiment. A whopping 69% chose the longer trial! Think about that for a moment. In both of the first two trials, their hand was placed in frigid water. The second trial was 30 seconds longer and only slightly less uncomfortable in the end. Yet, more than two out of three people asked to repeat the second trial. Why?

Psychologists tell us it's because when people assess an experience, they rate the experience based on its best or worst part (that is, the peak) and the ending. They call it the "peak-end rule."

Whether you like it or not, people will tend to remember you for when you were at your best, or worst, and for the way you were in the end. It's impossible for any of us to always be at our best. Our worst selves will sometimes slip out no matter how hard we try to hide them. But the ending is something we can better control. Knowing that it's the end, we can devote more time and attention to getting it right.

Possible Preaching Angle:

1) Christian Life; Discipleship - Right now, your life may be average by most standards, with all of its highs and lows, but if you make an effort to end well your every encounter with other people, you'll leave them with a good impression. There are no second chances for making a good first impression, but there's always the chance to end well. 2) Pastor; Minister - Overall, a sermon may be so-so; but if the conclusion is memorable, it'll likely be remembered fondly weeks later.

Australian Erchana Murray-Bartlett completed 150 marathons in 150 days, running 6,300 kilometers (3,900 miles) from the country’s northern tip to the southern city of Melbourne in what could be a new world record. The 32-year-old runner crossed the finish line on Monday after a feat that, if confirmed, will beat the previous world record of 106 consecutive marathons set by British national Kate Jayden last year.

While Jayden sought to raise money for refugees, Murray-Bartlett completed her run to raise awareness of the threats to Australia’s biodiversity. She said, “Australia is fantastic, it’s so beautiful, and that was one of the key things I wanted to get out of this run, it was to showcase Australia’s beauty to the world.”

Murray-Bartlett raised more than 118,000 Australian dollars ($82,130) for the Wilderness Society, with all profits going towards conserving Australia’s native animals.

Australia, which has one of the world’s worst records on extinctions, last year announced a 10-year plan to try to prevent any more species from dying out in the country. The country’s wildlife has suffered the effects of natural disasters and the climate crisis, including catastrophic bushfires in 2019-20 that killed or displaced nearly three billion animals.

After setting off from Cape York in Queensland in August, Murray-Bartlett ran 42.2 kilometers (26.2 miles) each day, enduring scorching heat and storms as she crossed dirt roads, rivers, and beaches. She said, “It’s very exhausting, I’ll give you that but I feel very blessed have been out to get to the finish line.”

Possible Preaching Angle:

Christians have our own marathon to run with perseverance. Our race begins anew every day, and also has purpose - to please the One who calls us and to share our testimony with the world.

Many professional athletes have their trademarks when it comes to celebrating their wins. Tiger Woods has his legendary fist pump. The eight-time Olympic gold medalist Usain Bolt has his signature "lightning bolt" pose.

Once in a while, athletes celebrate prematurely, which has proven costly. Cyclist Luka Pibernik from Slovenia sprinted to the finish line and raised his arms in triumph. Unfortunately, the race was not over and another lap remained. After a grueling 3.5 hours of cycling, Pibernik's reserves were empty and slipped from 1st place to 148th.

Possible Preaching Angle:

The Bible encourages us to persevere to the end. The Apostle Paul uses the metaphor of a marathon to illustrate the perseverance of the Christian life. We are to fix our sight on the prize and to finish the race (1 Cor. 9:24-27; Heb. 12:1-2).

Only 44 people have reached the summit of all 14 of the world’s 26,000-foot peaks, according to the record books. Or, maybe no one has. The difference rides on a timeless question getting a fresh look--what is a summit?

Ed Viesturs believes he knows. He is one of the 44, the only American on the list. In 1993, climbing alone and without supplemental oxygen or ropes, he reached the “central summit” of Shishapangma, the world’s 14th-highest mountain. Most climbers turn around there, calling it good enough.

Before him was a narrow spine of about 300 feet, a knife-edge of snow with drops to oblivion on both sides. At its end was the mountain’s true summit, a few feet higher in elevation than where he stood. “Too dangerous,” Ed told himself. He retreated but then he said, “I was one of those guys where if the last nail in the deck hasn’t been hammered in, it’s not done.” Eight years later, Ed climbed within reach of Shishapangma’s summit again. With a leg on each side of the narrow mountain spine, he shimmied across it. He touched the highest point and scooted back to relative safety.

There is a summit, and then there is everything below it. Can close ever be good enough? By asking a simple-sounding question—What is the summit?—the researchers are raising doubts about past accomplishments and raising standards for future ones.

Eberhard Jurgalski has spent 40 years chronicling the ascents of the 26,000-foot peaks. And now he has some jarring news: It is possible that no one has ever been on the true summit of all 14 of those peaks. Some stopped on the central summit, not daring to straddle the ridge the way Viesturs did. Some turned around at a popular selfie-taking spot without scaling the precarious ridge hidden just beyond it.

Climber and author David Roberts says, “The summit does matter. Why does it matter? Because it’s the whole point of mountaineering. It’s the goal that defines an ascent.”

Australian explorer Damien Gildea said, “People are stopping short because it’s too hard. And I say, that’s not really a good excuse for a climber.”

Possible Preaching Angle:

Let’s also beware the danger of giving up before reaching the finish line of the Christian life. Thinking that “close enough” is “good enough” leaves us short of the prize (Phil. 3:14).

Purdue University recently announced the renaming of two of its residence halls after two extraordinary alumni, Freida and Winifred Parker. In 1946, they were accepted to Purdue University, but were not allowed to live on campus. According to historian John Norberg, Purdue “had an unwritten policy that African Americans couldn’t live in the residence halls.” And it wasn’t just the university, either. Norberg said, “African American students couldn’t live in West Lafayette at all. It was a sundown city. African Americans had to be out by sundown."

This inhospitable setting made campus life difficult for the Parker sisters as they insisted on attaining a collegiate education. Norberg said, “They didn’t have a shower or a bathtub. They only had one desk for them to share … it was a long commute that involved buses and they had to leave early so they missed a lot of opportunities.”

And yet, despite such hardship, the Parker sisters did not give up. Norberg said, “(They) weren’t the first to be denied access to the residence halls. They were the first to stand up to the university and say, ‘No, you can’t do that.’”

Through a winning combination of dispassionate logic, strategic networking and unflagging endurance, the sisters engaged in a year-long campaign to reverse the unwritten policy. They wrote letters, they visited dignitaries, and they rallied support wherever they could get it.

Eventually they found support from Indiana governor Ralph Gates, whose pressure broke the stalemate. In 1947, Freida and Winifred Parker were among the first African American students to move onto campus. All of the students at Purdue today benefited from what Frieda and Winifred did in 1946.

Renee Thomas, of the Black Cultural Center at Purdue, hopes the gesture will help to send a positive message to students who might be struggling. “We hope that today’s students will use their story as inspiration.”

Possible Preaching Angle:

Trusting in God gives us the power to persevere under difficult circumstances. Even though we work inside institutions to change laws and practices, ultimately our hope is not in people or institutions or laws, but in God's eternal truth and power.

Flight delays and cancellations at Reagan National Airport are just about as common as any other airport. So, the cancellation of a JetBlue flight to New York City wouldn’t normally be that surprising. What raised the attention of its passengers was the reason admitted by its pilots. They admitted to being too tired to fly.

Emily Galvin-Almanza was on the jetway when she witnessed the commotion that preceded the announcement of her flight’s cancellation. She said, “The pilots were on the phone, and then they appeared to be in heated conversation with the gate agents for a long time. Then the gate agent came back and told us the flight was canceled because the pilots were tapped out.”

Emily tweeted about the incident, noting the tone of frustration from other would-be passengers. But she had the opposite reaction. “I felt safer knowing the pilots knew when to say they were done, and I'd rather be alive than on time.”

Furthermore, she said she was concerned by what she thought were gate agents trying to dissuade the pilots from their decision. Emily said, “I found that really concerning, actually, since I don't ‘want’ to be on a flight with a tapped-out crew. I was worried they'd un-cancel the flight and put me in an unsafe position.”

Nevertheless, the flight crew remained adamant. In a tweet that received more than 6,000 likes, she expressed her gratitude: “I'm incredibly grateful to them for being honest and not risking my safety to please an angry crowd. Thank you.”

Possible Preaching Angle:

As John Ortberg famously said, sometimes the most spiritual thing you can do is take a nap. Being dedicated to the work of God means attending to the needs of body, soul and spirit, and especially getting rest when you need it, so that you can be most effective during your waking hours.

Japanese Marathon Runner Shizo Kanakuri competed in the domestic qualifying trials for the 1912 Stockholm Olympics. Kanakuri set a marathon world record and was selected as one of the only two athletes that Japan could afford to send to the event that year.

However, Kanakuri shockingly disappeared during the 1912 Olympic marathon race. He had had a rough 18-day-long trip to Stockholm, first by ship and then by train all through the Trans-Siberian Railway, and needed five days to recover for the race. Kanakuri, weakened by the long journey from Japan, lost consciousness midway through the race, and was cared for by a local family. Being embarrassed from his "failure" he returned to Japan without notifying race officials.

Swedish authorities considered him missing for 50 years before discovering that he was living in Japan. In 1967, he was offered the opportunity to complete his run. He accepted and completed the marathon in 54 years, 8 months, 6 days, 5 hours, 32 minutes and 20.3 seconds, remarking, "It was a long trip. Along the way, I got married, had six children and 10 grandchildren."

Possible Preaching Angle:

The Bible is full of stories of people who quit, but later, with God’s help, finished the race. Moses spent forty years in the wilderness before God renewed his call. Peter denied Christ, went back to fishing, but Jesus restored him. The list continues with John Mark, Sampson, and many others who eventually finished the race.

In a recent issue of Runner's World, Jess Movold shared how she lost her passion to press on:

Tempo runs scare me. Those long, hard, sustained efforts always look impossible when I see them on paper. Doubt creeps in. I remember one run in particular—I saw it on my plan and immediately began creating a laundry list of excuses as to why this was simply just not going to work, why I wasn’t fit enough, why I wouldn’t finish, why I would fail. Before I even laced up my shoes, I’d already convinced myself I couldn’t do this. Instead of using the warmup to find my groove, prepare for success, and get excited to make the best of it, I adopted a loser’s mindset, revisited my list of excuses, and fell further into a bad attitude.

The problem, I realized, was that I treated my entire training plan like a tempo run—hard, fast, strict. In a tempo run, if you don’t hit your pace early, it’s nearly impossible to catch up. In my training plan, I felt like if I didn’t hit a workout early, I wouldn’t be able to catch up.

How did she fix this problem? She started treating her workout collectively like a long run:

I love long runs … settling into a relaxed pace, enjoying the route, and focusing on only one goal—finishing. I love that I can have a bad mile in the middle and still end strong.

Now, when I set a new goal, I have what I call “the long-run mindset.” I find success and value in my training because I’m not desperate for immediate results like I have been. I care more about the big picture and my long-term goals as a runner. I have shifted my attitude to think bigger than short-term outcomes and work toward lifelong success.

Later, Movold offers this advice:

In training as a whole, your “why” will likely be more meaningful but just as important. What are you running toward? Figure out the reason for the miles, and they become easier.

In standardized math tests, Japanese children consistently score higher than their American counterparts. Researchers have found that it has more to do with effort than ability. In a study involving first graders, students were given a difficult puzzle to solve. The researchers weren't interested in whether the children could solve the puzzle. They wanted to see how long they would try before giving up.

The American children lasted, on average, 9.47 minutes. The Japanese children lasted 13.93 minutes. In other words, the Japanese children tried 47 percent longer. Is it any wonder that they score higher on standardized math exams? Researchers concluded that the difference in math scores has less to do with intelligence quotient and more to do with persistence quotient. The Japanese first graders tried harder by trying longer.

Possible Preaching Angle:

That study does more than explain the difference in standardized math scores. It doesn't matter whether it's athletics or academics, music or math. There are no shortcuts. There are no cheat codes. If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.

It's easy to envy the success of others while ignoring the sacrifices that made it possible. The more effortless something looks, the more effort went into it. Great musicians make hard look easy! Same with athletes. Pick a sport, any sport.

When Phil Mickelson was a young golfer, he struggled with his short game. A coach challenged him to make one hundred three-foot putts in a row. After many attempts, Phil sunk ninety-nine in a row before missing his one hundredth attempt. Most of us would have rounded up! Not Phil Mickelson. He went right back at it until he accomplished the 100 Putt Challenge. That's how you win forty-four PGA events and five majors!

There's a great story about Alexander Solzhenitsyn, the Russian writer who spent years in a Siberian prison. At one point he had become completely discouraged and decided to give up and die. His plan was to stop working out in the field, to lean on his shovel, and wait for the guards to come and beat him to death. However, when he stopped, another prisoner reached over with his shovel and quickly drew a cross at his feet, then erased it before a guard could see it.

Solzhenitsyn later said that his entire being was energized by that little reminder of the hope and courage we have in Christ. He found the strength to continue because a fellow believer cared enough to remind him of our hope.

When U2 were recording their album the Joshua Tree, they spent more time working on the song “Where the Streets Have No Name” than the rest of the album put together. Brian Eno, the producer became so frustrated that he secretly planned to “stage an accident” and erase the tape of the song, so that they would have to start again. He thought they were getting nowhere and would never finish. At one point the sound engineer came into the studio and saw what was happening. He lunged at Eno who was about to hit the switch to erase the tape. There was a scuffle, and the tape remained intact.

Brian Eno was stopped, and U2 finished the song. Ultimately, "Where the Streets Have No Name" was praised by critics and became a commercial success, peaking at #13 in the US. The song has remained a staple of their live act since the song debuted in 1987.

Possible Preaching Angle:

Sometimes it’s good to start afresh. To walk away from a mess. But sometimes it’s right to persevere through thick and thin. You might feel like giving up on your marriage, your church, your job, but God wants you to stick in. Don't give up. Paul says “Let us not grow tired of doing good, for in due time we shall reap our harvest, if we do not give up” (Ga. 6:9).

Each year about four dozen athletes gather in Minnesota for the St. Croix 40 Winter Ultra. Runners spend good money to embark on a 40-mile ultra-marathon, at night, in January, in Minnesota, while pulling a sled packed with 30-plus pounds of supplies. In this environment, you can literally die from standing still for too long.

Over 25% of the runners will not finish the race. Most of these will drop out at a very interesting point. Participants reach mile marker 24 (aka Checkpoint 24) between 10 pm and midnight. If a runner plans to take on the last 16 miles, he/she must prove they have the skills to stay alive in the case of an emergency. They must stop, set up their bivy sack (a body-shaped tent that envelops their sleeping bag), climb into the makeshift bed, wait around 30 seconds, then pack it all up before leaving.

Personally, that sounds like the easiest part of the race. But when the temperature nears zero, and you're covered in sweat, coming out of a very brief respite in a sleeping bag the temptation to quit is strong. The most dangerous thing a runner can do in a race like this is stop.

When the Olympic Games of 1964 were held in Tokyo, Sri Lanka sent a contingent to the games, including a 10,000-meter runner by the name of Ranatunge Karunananda. The 10,000-meter race was won by Billy Mills of the USA and when Mills passed the finish line, Ranatunge was still 4 laps behind. (It is said that he was unwell that day). The spectators expected him to quit at some point but he kept running. As he kept running alone, people began to laugh at him and some even began to heckle him. But he still kept running.

When the spectators eventually realized that this unknown athlete was determined to finish the race, the jeers slowly turned to admiration and some applause slowly began to rise across the Stadium. As he started on the final lap, the applause grew louder as the crowd, now inspired by his perseverance, encouraged him to complete the race. Cheers and applause erupted as the exhausted athlete eventually finished the race.

Interviewed after the race, Ranatunge said, “The Olympic spirit is not to win, but to take part. So, I completed my rounds.” This story captured the imagination and the heart of the Japanese public so vividly that it eventually found its way into Japanese school textbooks!

Possible Preaching Angle:

Today, many Christians are giving up on their spiritual race due to hardships and challenges that come their way. Let's be inspired by the words of Paul who said, “…Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus” (Phil 3:13-14).

Laura Mazur and Jessica Robertson had never met before they reached the mile 14 marker at the Pittsburgh Marathon. Mazur was running her 12th marathon overall, while Robertson was running her first marathon.

Mazur told reporters she was feeling paranoid because she didn’t want to finish last. She turned around and noticed another runner, Robertson, was there as well. Robertson said that she was feeling defeated and upset with her performance when she noticed Mazur beside her. The two began chatting and decided to buddy up and run the rest of the race together. Mazur later wrote in a Facebook post, “I told her I’d stay with her if she stayed with me.”

The two clicked instantly and encouraged each other along the way. Robertson, who was nervous about the possibility of not completing her first marathon said that Mazur’s words of encouragement kept her motivated and confident. Mazur said she told Robertson, “You’re fine! I know you’re OK! You can do this.”

Mazur said that despite holding up the rear of the race, they were cheered along by spectators along the way, including a large cheering section at mile 25 of the 26.2 mile race. “There was great crowd support,” Mazur said. "You feel like royalty. You feel like a real athlete. It's super awesome to have people cheer you on.”

It was this encouragement that propelled them forward to finish the race. Robertson said, “We made it 26. I can do 0.2 [more].” Mazur said, “I just took her hand and said ‘Let’s go!’ It was so great that we got everything done and we were still together. We finished what we started.”

Possible Preaching Angles: Encouragement; Body of Christ; Running the Race – It doesn’t matter if you finish first in the race of life. What does matter is faithfully doing your best to finish the course and encouraging others along the way.

An enterprising soccer fan made heads turn when he found a way to circumvent the rules preventing him from enjoying his favorite team.

Ali Demirkaya, nicknamed "Yamuk Ali" (or "Crazy Ali") is well known in his area for his passionate fandom of the local football club, Denizlispor. So ardent was his fandom that Ali had been banned from the stadium for a year, due to a misdemeanor from a previous fan-related incident. So on the day of an important match against a rival team, Ali found a solution—he rented a crane, then lifted it high enough to see over the stadium wall.

"That match was very important for our team," he explained to local news source Yeni Asir. "I had to go to the police station to sign a paper to show that I am not watching the match in the stadium. Then I quickly went to rent the crane." Social media in the area was full of pictures of a jubilant Ali cheering from his perch.

Ultimately, police were summoned and Ali was forced to lower the crane. Nevertheless, he still ended the day on a high note. The stunt only cost him the equivalent of $86, he wasn't cited or fined by the authorities, and his team won 5-0.

Potential Preaching Angles: If it means something to you, you'll get creative to make sure you don't miss out. Sometimes God's blessing comes to those willing to go to extremes.