Yesterday at church, my pastor was speaking about the children of Israel and the city of Jericho. (Joshua 6:1-27)

In this passage, Joshua is called to lead his people in the march around the city of Jericho. For six days they marched around the city walls. As God commanded, on the seventh day they marched seven times around. With the blasts of their horns, and the mighty shouts of the people, the walls came down!

The question I have.

What if they had given up at lap number six? Surely there was someone who said “this is stupid!”, or “my feet hurt!”, but they didn’t. They persevered.

With building cars for a living, I see “white flag” projects all the time. Some have waved the white flag because of money, family, or they have reached their skill limit. The saddest is, the lack of desire to keep moving forward.

One of the points in my Pastor’s message was, their are two “white flags”. One is the international sign of surrender. The other is is used in racing, as a signal to the driver that they are on the last lap.

Too many people these days use the wrong flag. Unfortunately, it’s become too easy to raise the white flag, instead of waiting for the white flag to be waived.

Building a car can easily become a long term project. As in anything long term, it takes perseverance to see it through. Perseverance to finish that car. Perseverance to loose that last five pounds. Or even, perseverance to save your marriage.

Today. I challenge you. Keep looking for that flag man. You never know. You might be coming up on lap six.