Don Sunshine Ministries

A Man and His Marriage

I've ridden with a lot of people on a lot of elevators, but none quite as unusual as the young man that I met on an elevator a while back. Actually, he wasn't unusual; but what he carried was. He had his arms full of a wadded up tuxedo and a wadded up wedding gown. So here's this fellow, marching down the hall with a wedding gown and a tuxedo in his arms.

Now, you can put two and two together. He must have noticed the bemused look on my face though, because as the elevator door closed in front of us he smiled at me and said, "Last night was a life-changing experience!" That's a pretty perceptive insight from a newly married man. And then he added, "Probably more than I know." Oh, he's got that right.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "A Man and His Marriage."

Well, our word for today from the Word of God comes from Ephesians 5, and we'll begin reading at verse 25. It's about husbands and wives. It says, "Husbands love your wives..." I wish it stopped there; that would make it easier. But listen, it doesn't stop there. "...just as Christ loved the church (Ah!) and gave Himself up for her." Okay, it's getting tougher! It says, "...to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the Word and to present her to Himself as a radiant church without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish; but holy and blameless."

Now, when a man says, "I do" to a woman, here's what God hears him say, "I will on a daily basis lay down my life for this woman as Christ laid down His life for us." Whew! Man, that's radical! As the newlywed carrying yesterday's tuxedo and bridal gown said, "Yeah, it's a life-changing experience."

From the time we're born, we're like "me" people: change me, feed me, take care of me, hold me. We grow up and we get more sophisticated, but we're still expecting to be the sun and for everyone else to be the planets who revolve around us. Marriage radically changes that me-ness. Jesus said marriage is the moving of someone else to the center position - my wife. So I will revolve around her needs, not her around mine.

This isn't just radical, it's practical. Like listening to your wife's heart poured out even when you're dead tired, or ready to watch your favorite sporting event. That's how you lay down your life. It's putting her fulfillment ahead of yours in sexual love; that's laying down your life for her. It means unloading your day's burdens that you want to carry around with you and you want everybody to cater to you because of those. But you unload those on the way home so you can focus on her and her burdens when you get there.

So, laying down your life? It can mean changing diapers, or taking out garbage, or doing the dishes, or caring about the sacrifice of time; the sacrifice that involves listening when you don't feel like it or you don't want to listen that long. She needs your attention; you promised it to her. You promised she would be first. When you do this you get a wife that's radiant like the church that Christ loves. You know, you can tell the women who have been loved like this. They're radiant; they kind of glow! Beautiful women grow in the garden of a man's selfless love.

It's a life-changing experience for both of you; that's the radical side of "I do."

How sad!

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One Safe Place

Our former office was, literally, for the birds! I mean it was like they lived in the attic above our top floor offices. And you know what, they would sometimes show up flying down the hall. Every once in a while we could hear them when we were recording radio programs, it was a little "chirp" in with their singing.

But there was a problem with this apparently safe place, they thought. The birds began wandering around up there in that large dark attic, especially at night. And evidently, they lost their way and they became disorientated. In the morning – you've got to take my word for this, I was an ear witness to it – I heard their little footsteps walking back and forth and their unhappy chirps. There was no food or water in that attic. When birds get in tiny little spaces like that, it's difficult to rescue them, and they often die. That attic that looked so inviting, so comfortable, so secure. It turned out to be a dangerously hostile place!

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "One Safe Place."

Our word for today from the Word of God is in Psalm 84. And by the way, birds aren't the only creatures looking for a place to feel safe and secure. We all have a need to find a person, or a place, or a position, where we're safe, where we can have a comfortable nest. The only problem is, as many of us have found out, some of what looks like a place where you can find security turns out to be a place where you get lost, you get starved, you get hurt!

Psalm 84: "'How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord Almighty! My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the Lord,' my heart and my flesh cry out for the Living God. Even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may have her young, "A place near your altar O Lord Almighty, my King and my God. Blessed are those who dwell in your presence, they are ever praising you."

Here's a picture of a vulnerable little sparrow who finds a truly safe home. She nests right at the place where you meet God, the altar. The Psalmist says that that's where he has finally found security as well, in the Presence of the Living God. But so many people have nested in the wrong place. See, we can't see Jesus, so instead we settle down where there is comfort and safety we can see. In doing so we often end up in a place that ends up hurting us.

Maybe you're there right now? A wrong relationship that looks like a secure place to land, but it costs too much. Maybe you ran to a wrong job, a wrong career, maybe you ignored or abandoned what the Lord was telling you to do for something a little more secure. The nesting place has let you down, hasn't it – pulled you down? Or maybe you're tempted right now to make a choice based on security largely. "I'll do what looks comfortable and safe." That's how I'll decide. Well, that could turn out to be a bird brain choice. Choices based on security are very often God's will mistakes, and comfort becomes a trap.

Can I invite you to the altar of God? In fact, in your heart you may need to come to an altar and surrender your life anew to the Savior who died for you. He's the only One who can anchor your needs and you'll know that you'll never end up lost or wounded – not in His care. You've tried other nests that advertise security. They've been disappointing substitutes for the real thing, which is the love and the leadership of Jesus Christ.

Anyone who loved you enough to die for you will never do you wrong. He's your safe place. You can know that because He loved you enough to die on the cross for you.

You want to reach out to Him today; make Him the leader of your life? Maybe you've never done that. I'd love to help you do that and that's why our website is there - ANewStory.com. And believe me, when you give your heart to Him it will be the beginning of a new story.

The search for security led those birds above my head to some fatal choices. Don't make the same mistake. Run to the strong arms of Jesus, for as the Bible says, "He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty" (Psalm 91:1).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Db9Bizx_JJw&t=5s

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Praying God's Word: A Back To School Blessing Start off the new school year with this back-to-school blessing based on Scripture. Use this video in your church to encourage everyone to ask God to…

Leadership - Setting the Temperature

I was in a meeting in a hotel. It was in the 90s outside, but I was ready to put gloves on so I could write my notes without shaking. Maybe you've been in those rooms. It was hot outside but the air conditioner was on one notch past high - I think the setting was like on "arctic'? And all of us in the room became concerned about that setting, and one by one we wandered over to the box on the wall. You know we're all "fix it" guys - we'll make it better.

Well, when we got over to the box we discovered that the controls were all locked up; we couldn't get to them. So we called the front desk, and finally the maintenance man came and turned down the ice machine. No longer a meat locker. Summer or winter that guy's the person; he's the one who decides what the temperature is. By the way, so are you.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Leadership - Setting the Temperature."

Our word for today from the Word of God comes from the book of Nehemiah. Now, here's one of the greatest models of leadership in all the Bible; that's this man named Nehemiah. You may remember he led a monumental effort to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem in 52 days. Not bad for a couple of month's work, huh? Well, now as we reach this point in the book of Nehemiah, he is the Governor of the province. The wall is done, but these people are a poor group of people trying to establish life in their re-built city.

What is needed in order to establish a community there is a climate of unselfishness, sharing, and cooperation. Well, listen to what the leader does. Nehemiah says, "For twelve years neither I nor my brothers ate the food that was allotted to the governor. Now the earlier governors - those preceding me - placed a heavy burden on the people and took forty shekels of silver from them in addition to the food and wine. Their assistants also lorded it over the people."

But out of reverence for God, I did not act like that. Instead, I devoted myself to work on this wall. All my men were assembled there for the work. We did not acquire any land."

Later he says, "I never demanded the food allotted to the governor because the demands were heavy on these people."

Friends, this is leadership! Nehemiah was the man who set the pace; he led the way. He set a temperature in Jerusalem. A temperature of sharing and giving, putting other people first, and the people followed. See, the greatest responsibility of a leader is never written in their job description. It's establishing a climate. Parents do it in their home, teachers do it in a classroom, leaders do it in a church, and supervisors do it in an office or a factory. In a sense, we are all leaders to the extent that we are setting a climate wherever we are.

Now, if you are in a position of influencing others, have you considered how the temperature feels where you are? What kind of climate is there around you? It's not even something you're doing consciously - it's your persona, your style, your values, your priorities, your pace. Those are the things that do it. You establish it not so much by what you say, but with how you live. Is it tense around you? Is that the temperature you set? Or are people around you seeing a model of caring, unselfishness, or like Nehemiah - pitching in on the job that needs to be done instead of just giving orders?

I wonder if in your world you set a climate of respect for other people by the way you talk about them and the way you talk to them? Or do they know there's a climate of prayer around you and they catch that? Is there a climate of worry, or is there a climate of trusting God?

You're a leader. You control the climate whether you realize it or not. So, make your room, so to speak, feel like it would if Jesus were there, because if you're a Christian, He is - in you.

July 2024 - Monthly Report

Hello Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Summer is always a slow time for our ministry. With many people away on family vacations, churches are reluctant to schedule events during these months. This year was no exception. Therefore, this will be a short letter.

We had no M.A.D. Live Events this month. I did have the opportunity to speak at a Men’s Breakfast at the Moseley Campus of “The Chapel” in Virginia. Lord willing this will open doors for me to return there to do a M.A.D. Live Event at some point in the future.

I spent much time on the phone, following up on leads that we received from people who had attended our events from earlier this year. Phone work is a grueling process with very few actual conversations with pastors and very few return calls after leaving messages for them. But we press on! God know our hearts and our desire for a full schedule!

With the light schedule this month, and many weekends free, the schedule provided me the opportunity to do some off-road ministry.

In terms of one-on-one ministry, God brought me 30 Divine appointments in July. I shared the Gospel with these people and prayed with many of them.

We have lots of open dates in September that we would like to fill. It may be short notice, but if your church has interest in allowing us to come and minister, please let me know.

SCHEDULE FOR THE NEXT 4 MONTHS

• Aug 3 - M.A.D Live Event # 782 - Fellowship Church, Fairview, NC
• Aug 4 - Speak at morning worship service - Fellowship Church, Fairview, NC
• Aug 21 - Sept 25 - M.A.D. Live Event # 783 - Mt. Zion Baptist Church, Jonesborough, TN - This event will be comprised of six 45-minute sessions on six consecutive Wednesday nights beginning at 7 PM
• Aug 25 - M.A.D. Live Event # 784 - Springville Assembly of God, Springville, NY
• Aug 26 - Looking for a church to minister in within driving distance
• Sept 21 - M.A.D. Live Event # 785 - Crossroads Baptist Church, Hickory, NC
• Sept 22 - Looking for a church to minister in within driving distance
• Sept 24-27 - TN Motorcycle Waterfall Tour - Open to all. We’ll be visiting 11 gorgeous waterfalls in East TN. Contact me if you’re interested in coming along.
• Oct 12 - M.A.D. Live Event # 786 - Mt. Pocono Bible Fellowship Church, Mt. Pocono, PA
• Oct 13 - M.A.D. Live Event # 787 - Egypt Community Church, Whitehall, PA
• Oct 26 - M.A.D. Live Event # 788 - Laurel Hill UM Church, Vale, NC
• Oct 27 - M.A.D. Live Event # 789 - Mt. Moriah Community Church, Casar, NC
• Nov 2 - Walk thru the Bible “OT Live” seminar - Crosswalk Church, Daytona Beach, FL
• Nov 3 - Looking for a church to minister in within driving distance of Daytona Beach
• Nov 9 - M.A.D. Live Event # 790 - The Church at Life Park, Mt. Pleasant, NC
• Nov 10 - M.A.D. Live Event # 791 - The Church at Life Park, Mt. Pleasant, NC (In the afternoon, after AM Services)

PLEASE PRAY WITH US

• Schedule - as you can see, we have very few events on the calendar going forward. Our goal is to be 2 churches on most weekends, excluding holidays. We covet your prayers and assistance for a full schedule.
• Finances - if you read some of our previous monthly letters you know that we rely on love offerings to provide 33% of our monthly income. With no events in July and only one in September, we pray that God will bless us with additional income and dates to teach.
• Health – Cathy’s sense of taste and smell are slowly returning. My torn shoulder tendons continue to heal. We pray God will keep us healthy so we can continue to serve Him as He has called us to do.

Love in Christ,

Cathy and Don

When Every Day's the Same

Now I don't see a lot of movies but that old groundhog one with Bill Murray, I can tell you, it's really funny. You probably know the plot if you've seen it. He's this not very nice TV weatherman who goes to Punxsutawney, PA to broadcast that American tradition that comes from there. We're supposed to be able to predict whether or not there will be six more weeks of winter weather based on whether or not the groundhog sees his shadow on February 2nd.

Anyway, the weatherman, who has a serious attitude problem, wakes up at 6:00 a.m. the next day, only to experience exactly the same events he did the day before. And every new morning, the clock radio goes off at 6:00 a.m. and awakens him to the same old song, "I Got You, Babe" by Sonny and Cher. And day after day, he sees the same people; he experiences the same relationships, the same places, the same rhythm - even down to the guy in the diner dropping a plate the same time each day. It becomes very frustrating - experiencing the same day over and over again.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "When Every Day's the Same."

The plot of the movie obviously is fantasy. The plight of having the same day over and over again is reality for a lot of people. In some ways, it might describe how your life feels right now. Life has taken on this monotonous sameness - a predictability. It seems like no matter what happens, or who happens, you have the feeling of "been there, done that." Maybe your life seems to be suffering from a meaning deficit.

Actually, life was never meant to be monotonous. After all, your life was given to you by a God who creates blazing sunsets and fall colors, people with fingerprints that are like no one else who has ever been born, galaxies, comets and supernovas. Now would a Creator with that kind of creativity create us to have days that all seem the same? The only reason life would be like that is if we are, in reality, trying to live without our Creator.

Jesus Christ, the Son of God, steps into our hunger for something more meaningful and more colorful when He gives us our word for today from the Word of God in John 10:10. Jesus said, "I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." Now obviously, Jesus isn't talking about life in the sense of eating, breathing, and existing. We already have that kind of life. He's talking about life that's fulfilling, challenging, and satisfying - life to the full.

We don't have life like that because we don't have the Life-Giver. According to God's Book, the Bible, you and I have, in fact, taken our life out of our Creator's hands and put it in our own. In the Bible that's called sin. In God's words we are, "without hope and without God" (Ephesians 2:12).

It all seems so empty. Everyone seems as trapped in meaninglessness as you do. There seems to be no hope. Until you let Jesus Christ reconnect you to the God you have sinned against. Jesus died on that cross to pay for the sin that separates you from God. And when you put your trust in Him to take down the wall between you and God, He starts to infuse your days with a sense of meaning and destiny which you were created for. Each day you're discovering a little more of who you were born to be.

While your environment may be pretty much the same every day, your INvironment - what's in you - is experiencing ever new experiences of God's love, God's joy, God making a difference in your life, God making a difference through your life.

Maybe you've never begun this relationship that is what you were made for. In the Bible's words, you were "created by Him and for Him" but you've not really had Him in the leadership of your life. He loved you enough to die for you. You can trust Him. He'll change things you can't change because He was powerful enough to walk out of His grave and He's ready to walk into your life on your invitation. You say, 'Jesus, beginning today I am Yours. I trade the life I've been running for the life You died to give me right now."

If you want to do that, we would love to be there for you. If you go to our website I can help you know you belong to Him. It's ANewStory.com.

Your life was never meant to be this small. There is something so much bigger - days where you are finally experiencing the One you were created by, and the One you were created for.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZUgSrSlYy8

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Nothing More Important Than the Kids

I saw my friend Rich at a busy committee session. We had a lot to do and there were some very important choices to make. In fact, we didn't even get through everything we needed to! But Rich, well, he didn't forget what really mattered. He announced out of the blue, "Hey everybody! I brought baby pictures!" Oh, yes, you could guess! He's the father of a newborn son. So, forget everything else, man! Who cares about all this business stuff we've got to do? He wanted to share his greatest joy with us - his child. You know what? That man had his priorities straight.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Nothing More Important Than the Kids."

Now, our word for today from the Word of God comes from the book of 3rd John. The funny thing about 3rd John is you don't ever have to give the chapter, you just give the verse because there's like only one chapter. So we're reading from 3 John 1:4. Here's John's priority agenda: "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth."

You know, in a sense, John is saying, "Hey, you want to see the picture of my children? That's what I'm proud of. That's what really matters to me. Look at my children." You know, we live in a world that just jumbles our priorities. Our life fills up with work, deadlines, home improvements, financial issues, and recreational things we want to do, and the Internet, and church work. And our children often end up getting our leftovers; whatever we can kind of scramble together of what's left of our energy, what's left of our input, what's left of our listening. We usually realize that they've gotten our leftovers when it's too late.

I've talked to a lot of guys after they've ended their business career, and I have never ever heard a man say, "You know, my only regret is I wish I'd spent more time with my business." I've had a number of people say, "I only wish I'd spent more time with my children while they had time."

If God has trusted you with a young life - a child - make meaningful time with that child a non-negotiable of your schedule. I mean, even if you have to change jobs, if it takes that to be a father, to be a mother, that's eternity's priority.

They'll change the name on the door of your office, because someone else could do your job. But you are the only mother or father that child has. This applies to spiritual children too; those that you may have led to Christ or to a closer relationship with Him. That was who John was speaking of literally. Don't just bring them to the Lord and walk away. They need you now more than ever.

When our children were small, they cried out when they needed us, and for sure kids have a way of letting you know that they need you. But as they grow, well, they don't cry so much, but they need us just as much, and maybe they cry in different ways. I know that you want the monument for your life to read, "His child/her child is walking in the truth." Well, you know, that takes time. That takes committed prayer for that child. It takes the right priorities. It might take changing things around.

The man with his baby pictures at that important meeting has the right idea. That precious child of yours; well, that's the agenda that really matters. I still remember a grandmother's prayer that was up on a plaque in her house. You can't argue with grandma. Here's what it said: "On that great resurrection day, may I stand before my Savior and say, 'Here am I, Lord, and the children you gave me.'"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aS1E1BWdoV4

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The Power to Change

It's just a humble little house in the country, but it had been a dream of a friend of ours for years. Actually, it was her grandparents' house most of her life. She lived just down the road from them as a child and she spent many hours and made many memories in that little place. After Grandma and Grandad died, her dad owned the house. But by then he lived four hours away, so he just rented it out for years. It never was a great house but it really fell apart over the last few years; holes in the roof, fleas in the carpet, critters invading the house through its many holes, rotting wood and deterioration.

Our friend's dream had been that someday she might be able to get her hands on that house she loved and make it into something. She got her chance. Her dad deeded the house to our friend and her sister and this past summer they teamed up to make it a neat little place in the country. She put on a full court press to get all those holes fixed, to replace things that were rotting or infested or worn out and she started to put her wonderful creative and beautifying touches to work to make it a special little spot.

Another friend who used to go by once in a while when it was still rented confided to her how he felt about the house, "This place was a dump. I thought it should be bulldozed." He doesn't think that now. He was very impressed with what that dump had become.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Power to Change."

All those years our friend had been seeing that house deteriorate and she just kept waiting for a day when it might be hers and she could take what had become a mess and make it into something beautiful. What she did for a house, Jesus does for people's lives. Maybe yours.

Our word for today from the Word of God in 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" A new creation. There was an amazing change that took place in that house that was going straight downhill when someone who loved it finally was allowed to have it.

And I've seen that same miracle take place so dramatically in human lives, when a life that was getting more and more damaged was finally turned over to Jesus Christ. And He has lovingly gone to work to repair what looked "unrepairable" and to fix what looked unfixable to forgive what seemed unforgivable and to make a person into a new creation.

It could be that you're in the market now for a re-creation miracle of your own. Things have been under your management for a long time. And maybe from the outside things look pretty good. But inside, there's a lot you're tired of. You're tired of ending up lonely, you're tired of your dark side winning, maybe the anger has done enough damage, the selfishness, the habit you have never been able to shake.

It could be that over the years you've accumulated more stress and more pain than you can handle anymore. Or more guilt than you can deal with anymore. Whatever the damage that's accumulated during the years when you've been running things, there is Someone who has loved you all along who's been saying all these years, "If only you would let Me have your life. I could do with it what you've never been able to do." Think about it. The Son of God promises to make you a new creation, the old you behind you, a new beginning.

All these years there's been a dark, destructive force inside, keeping you from becoming the person you really want to be. It's called sin. Sin Jesus took on Himself when He died on the cross for you. You can't be your own Savior. Only Jesus can be that. But He won't force His way in. He starts the forgiving, the healing, the re-creating the day you open the door and say, "Jesus, this place isn't mine anymore. It's Yours." That wonderful new beginning could be this very day for you if you're ready for the Savior to become your Savior and you tell Him that right now

Our website is there to help you get this done. I hope you'll go there - ANewStory.com.

There's so much Jesus has been wanting to do in your life but your life has never belonged to Him. Until today. You're going to be amazed at the change.

Through the Darkness With Jesus

Years ago I was flying like a gazillion miles a year it seemed like. And they gave me this coupon along the way. It entitled me to an upgrade to a first class seat on a future flight. Now that was a privilege that was really appreciated, especially when you've got major work to get done. They even let me board before any other passengers. I got a lot of dirty looks, but it was nice. And that meant I could get right to work on the plane instead of standing in line.

Now you could be saying, "Well, aren't you special?" Well listen, there's nothing special about me that gets me these special privileges, except that when you're a frequent flier on this airline, they give this kind of reward to anyone who flies a lot and does it consistently with them. See, the airlines want to train us to think one simple thought, customer loyalty pays off!

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Through the Darkness With Jesus."

The benefits belong to those who keep traveling with the same people. And long before there were airlines, some Jewish women discovered that as they followed Jesus. Our word for today from the Word of God is from Matthew 27 - we're beginning with verse 55. The scene: the crucifixion of Jesus, where most of those who had been with Jesus had taken off. But the Bible says, "Many women were there, watching from a distance. They had followed Jesus from Galilee to care for His needs. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Jesus." They'd followed Jesus loyally through all those journeys, all those miracles, all those life-changing lessons, and the glory of Palm Sunday only five days earlier. And now, when it looks as if all is lost and there is no reason to hang on, there they are at the cross.

Jesus has died now; it is over. Even though Jesus is buried in a borrowed tomb, the Bible says, "Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were sitting there opposite the tomb." Still loyal, when all hope seems to be gone. Then, of course, on that incredible Resurrection Day, "Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb." Because of their tenacious loyalty to Jesus, these women (not any of Jesus' 12 disciples) are the first to see the empty tomb.

And then the greatest joy of all, "The women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell His disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them." What may be the greatest thrill, the greatest privilege in all of human history, to be the first ones to ever see Jesus alive again! Those who have been His loyal followers through it all - they get that honor, they get the privilege! Like a passenger loyal to one airline, they enjoy benefits that only the loyal experience.

Because they've stuck with Jesus when there seemed to be no reason to, they get to see Him as no others have seen Him, and they experience the unspeakable joy that is reserved for those who were faithful when it was totally dark. And you know, that is still the experience of those who will stay with Jesus through the valley, the victories, the pain, the unanswered questions, the as yet unanswered prayers. When you do, you get to see Jesus in all His power and all of His glory.

But maybe for you, the resurrection day hasn't come yet. You're still in the time of the cross right now, or the time of the tomb, the time where there seems to be no hope, no reason. Maybe you're suffering from faithfulness fatigue. You've hung on, but it's getting harder to keep hanging on. And the Lord knows how hard it is right now.

So He has sent you this reminder that the greatest benefits go to those who stay with Jesus, no matter what. He has some wonderful blessings, some unspeakable joy, and some tremendous rewards for you if you'll stay faithful for a few more miles. In the words of Galatians 6:9, "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up."

The best rewards Jesus has to give are for those who fly faithfully with Him through it all.