I am not the smartest guy on the planet and I am certainly not the best looking guy on the planet either. Some of you might find that hard to believe; the rest of you have met me. Neither am I the most agile, the strongest, the funniest, most charming, or even the most cuddly—although I am probably in the top ten in that last category.

I have often wondered what it is that I have that sets me apart from anyone in the crowd, besides my delusions of grandeur, that is. If I were forced to decide and come up with an answer—I am also not the most decisive guy either—I would have to say that it is probably that I am persistent. I don’t give up easily. I keep at it. I work hard. I try hard. If I have any success at the things I attempt, it’s most likely because of my effort, not my talent. Still, what little pride I have in my persistence quotient has now been stripped away by a 68 year-old South Korean woman. You see, Cha Sa-soon, the woman of which I speak, has recently passed her driver’s test. Big deal you say, what is so great about that? Well, the big deal is that it took her 950 tries!

Apparently she has been trying to get her licence since April of 2005. That is 950 tests in four years. Do the math—we are talking roughly 238 tests taken per year, with a cost of 5 million won ($4,200) in application fees. Yes, this is certainly a big deal! Oh and by the way, she has only passed the written test to this point. Now she has to work on the driving exam itself!

I guess I could look at this a couple of different ways: Either I could be concerned that it took her 950 tries to get 60% on a driver’s test, or I could focus on the fact that she has a downright inspiring level of determination. I choose to take the high road with option two because I live on the other side of the world—far, far away from any vehicle she might ever find herself driving.

Cha Sa-soon needed the licence for her vegetable-selling business. In other words, there was a reason for her determination outside of the fact that she wanted a driver’s licence. I doubt that just a desire for a driver’s licence would have put enough gas in her tank to get her to take the test almost a daily for four years!

As Christians we sometimes forget that salvation isn’t our primary goal. It is merely our spiritual driver’s licence that puts us on the road to an adventure that will take us to all kinds of destinations in our relationship with Jesus. Thankfully our salvation doesn’t require the same kind of determination that Cha Sa-soon showed in getting her driver’s test. Jesus has already taken the test for us. But I would suggest that your spiritual journey does require determination, if you are going to get the best mileage from your faith and reach all the destinations along the way that Christ has entered into your Spiritual GPS.

Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. (Colossians 3:1-2)

source:MSNBC