“Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never – in nothing, great or small, large or petty – never give in except to conviction of honour and good sense.” Winston Churchill

Perseverance is truly a Kingdom Value as described throughout scripture and when I think of perseverance the Apostle Paul comes to mind. Truly he was called to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ to Jews and Gentiles alike, no matter the difficulties he encountered; illness, physical torture, shipwreck, imprisonment! He often related perseverance in the “upward call of God in Christ” to the perseverance of the athlete striving to win the race and receive the Gold Metal! In Philippians 3:13-14 he also reminds us that we must not be looking behind or back at the past but must be “straining forward to what lies ahead”! This quote by Winston Churchill at Harrow School, his alma mater, during the dark days of World War II, is a great conversation starter and lead into the Biblical recounting of Paul’s life and perseverance.