Enduring life’s fail whale …

I love the honesty of Twitter when it is at its least functional.

If you’re a user of Twitter, you’ve likely experienced those occasions when the website is so overwhelmed it posts its “fail whale” along with the statement: “Twitter is over capacity.” The statement is honest and to the point, the site is experiencing more demand than it can handle.

These are the common growth pains of sites such as Twitter. As they “grow,” they sometimes experience more demand than capacity. But as they endure through these situations, they respond by building their capacity to meet the needs of those they serve.

Sometimes, life can be like a bad day for Twitter.

Sometimes, we can be pulled in so many directions, or have so many demands or distractions placed on us that we can become overwhelmed. Sometimes we can feel like the best we can do is say, “I’m over capacity.”

James speaks directly to this situation in James 1:2-4, “2 Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. 3 For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. 4 So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.”

Our capacity to endure what life throws our way grows through experiences that push our limits … precisely the kind of experiences most of us don’t enjoy! But exactly the kind of experiences we all need.

How is God growing you by allowing your faith to be tested? Are you viewing these situations as opportunities for your endurance to grow? What do you do when you feel like you’re over capacity?

Scotty