Well, Friday was the first day of summer. Yeah, I did my own double take when I realized that. Seems we’ve been in the middle of summer for quite a while now. May was the driest month I remember. I gave up on my grass, but I did try to water enough to keep my vegetable garden alive and producing.

Watching vegetables grow fascinates me. Take squash for an example. Once you see a bloom it will not be long before you are picking and eating squash. It’s almost as if they grow 4 inches overnight.

On the other hand, once you see a new tomato on the vine, you need to realize that you are still weeks away from enjoying that first delicious tomato sandwich. It simply takes much longer to ripen and mature.

On the other hand, squash vines only produce for a short period of time. But tomatoes will continue to produce for many weeks as long as you water and care for them.

This reminds me of a story Jesus once told about different seeds and how they lasted. Some fell on rocky soil and did not grow at all. Some fell in shallow ground, grew up quickly, but did not last. But other seed fell on good soil and produced a great harvest.

The difference there was in the soil.

Some people hit the ground running and look like they are going to be faithful and true, but they don’t last. They give out. Others start out slowly, but they do remain faithful. They keep going, no matter what comes their way.

Here’s the thing. The Christian life is much more like a marathon than a sprint. We need to remain faithful. We need to keep going. God has promised to be with us. He has promised to be faithful to us.

Remind yourself often of what Paul wrote to Titus. “When we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot deny himself.”

I am so glad that God is always faithful. There is no better news.