Wolverines
- 31 minutes ago
- 4 min read
Per-sist-ent
adjective
continuing firmly or obstinately in a course of action in spite of difficulty or opposition.
continuing to exist or endure over a prolonged period.
Oxford Languages
Last night I dreamed I was in a forest, visiting friends. I was talking with them, and the children had wandered off. Then we suddenly heard the children crying out "Bear! Bear!" I looked, but saw nothing. I started backing away to be prudent and then a medium-sized brown animal came running out of the woods and straight at me! It knocked me to the ground and started aggressively sniffing my left front pocket of my jeans. I couldn't get away from it! Then I realized that I had left a bag of candy or cake or some other sweet in that pocket. I managed to fish it out of my pocket, gave it to the creature, and it ate it with great relish. It was a wolverine. Then I woke up, and the word "Persistent" came immediately to mind.
What is a Wolverine? Wikipedia describes it like this:
The Wolverine... is the largest land-dwelling member of the family Mustelidae. It is a muscular carnivore and a solitary animal. The wolverine has a reputation for ferocity and strength out of proportion to its size, with the documented ability to kill prey many times larger than itself...
The article goes on to list 32 different prey animals, including moose and elk. There are also known cases of wolverines killing grizzly bears and polar bears. I am reminded of the scene from one of the old Looney Tunes cartoons where Bugs Bunny is reading a long list of foods the Tasmanian Devil eats. Taz waits (relatively) patiently until Bugs states with great assurance that there are no rabbits on the list. Taz reaches over and points out the next paragraph of the list of prey animals: "But ESPECIALLY Rabbits..." Yeah, Warner Brothers got it wrong. Taz should have been drawn as a wolverine...
The teenage American guerillas in the 1984 movie Red Dawn chose to call themselves wolverines, which was also the mascot of their high school football team. This movie had a profound affect on me, and still makes me cry. They would tag their logo on destroyed enemy vehicles with spray paint, to show the world that they had been there. This was such a cultural phenomenon that in the early days of the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, Ukrainians were seen tagging destroyed Russian vehicles with that same Wolverines logo-- just like in the movies.
Wolverines are famous for being persistent, just like their smaller African cousin, the Honey Badger. I have a favorite YouTube video of a honey badger chasing down an elephant to continue the fight, despite having already been drop-kicked and stepped on. "You want some more of this?!?" In my dream, the wolverine was persistent. It hadn't started clawing me yet but it probably would have if I hadn't given up the goods. Reportedly, they can smell carrion through 20' of snow, so I guess my zip-lock bag wasn't sufficient.
So this morning, God's message to me was "Persistence." But why? Well, work lately is one struggle after another. We have three projects in Virginia that are almost finished that will pay us a significant sum once they're done-- enough to pay our bills with some left over. But to finish them, we need 7-9 days of good weather and high water. It's been two weeks since we had that combination, and this week isn't any better. Right now the cove we work out of is frozen over; my employees can walk across the ice to the boat, but then they can't go anywhere. Meanwhile, I think our boat motors and skid steer draw straws at night to see which one will give us trouble the next day... Here in South Carolina, my son and I have several projects lined up, but both of us are sick and miserable, and it's much too cold to be getting in he water to repair boatlifts. He accuses me of being stubborn. "No, no," I tell him. "I'm persistent..."
Our spiritual lives require persistence also. Galatians 6:9 (NIV) tells us:
Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
In Revelation 2-3, the phrase "him who overcomes" appears over and over, and this overcoming tends to requires persistence:
"Him who overcomes-
I will give the right to eat from the tree of life... (Rev 2:7)
will not be hurt by the second death... (Rev 2:11)
will be given some of the hidden manna... (Rev 2:17)
I will give authority to the nations... (Rev 2:26)
will have their name acknowledged before the Father... (Rev 3:5)
will be made a pillar in the temple of God... (Rev 3:12)
will be given the right to sit with Jesus on his throne... (Rev 3:21)
Maybe God has given you a mission-- a responsibility-- and you're feeling overwhelmed at the moment; like it's time to give up and do something else. Perhaps it is, but if God has truly placed you in this position, then He will give you the strength to persist. So maybe stick it out awhile longer? If God has given you a task, then be ferocious about it. Do it with all your power. It's said that Wolverines and Honey Badgers don't care. Obstacles? Antagonists? Doubters? Outnumbered by bigger animals? "Let me at 'em!" Facts and weight class are irrelevant in their world.
Be persistent in pursuing God and in completing your mission-- persistent as a wolverine.
If you enjoyed reading this, look for my book 101 God Thoughts, available on Amazon.
