No matter how successful or accomplished we might consider ourselves to be, life is still full of disappointments. Thomas Edison: thousands of failed attempts before the light bulb came on (thus a metaphor was born). Jim Lovell: never got to walk on the moon. Henry Ford: can you say Edsel? The Buffalo Bills: losing the Super Bowl four years in a row. Moses: forty years of faithful leadership through countless disappointments before the greatest of all, not getting to enter the Promised Land.

For me, it was not getting promoted to Chief Petty Officer, which in the Navy is a cherished achievement in the enlisted ranks. Watching as others more junior than I (and in my opinion, less deserving) getting to put gold anchors on their collars. It still stings a little nearly a quarter century later.

Somehow, we get past the great disappointments and in some cases move on to bigger and better things. Our relationship with God humbles us in that we are painfully aware of how frequently we disappoint Him. Every sin, every failure to bear witness, and the list is endless. Thankfully, His forgiveness and mercy stretch to infinity and beyond! He not only tolerates it, He pursues us with an unconditional love that overcomes all our great disappointments.

Pastor Art