Paul paints a picture of a runner pressing toward the finish line, “straining toward what is ahead” (Philippians 3:13). Think of the marathon runner in the final mile, lungs burning, legs weak but still moving forward on nothing but will and the sight of the finish line.
That describes fundraising. The calls that go unreturned for weeks. The major donor who leaned in and then went completely silent. The board member who wants results but doesn’t help. There comes a moment in every fundraiser’s year when exhaustion wins and you cry out like Frodo, “I can’t do this, Sam.”
Sam responded with this:
“I know. It’s all wrong. By rights we shouldn’t even be here. But we are. It’s like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were. And sometimes you didn’t want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to how it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it’s only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something, even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn’t. They kept going, because they were holding on to something… That there’s some good in this world, Mr. Frodo. And it’s worth fighting for.”
You Are in a Great Story
Sam refused to let darkness have the final word. That is exactly the attitude you need. Every unreturned call, every campaign that stalls, every board that is losing hope, these are not signs that God has abandoned your ministry. They are the middle of the story, and the middle is always the hardest part. You are not failing. You are in the part that requires patient endurance.
The Challenges Are Real
College presidents wrestle with declining enrollment and strained budgets. Rescue mission directors watch the need grow while their giving base shrinks. Christian school leaders pour energy into a major donor that always feels one conversation away from a breakthrough. The details differ. The exhaustion is the same. You are not imagining it.
Keep Going
Selah’s “Press On” was released just one month before September 11, 2001. In the following weeks, radio stations played it on heavy rotation while the nation tried to find its footing.
“When the choices are hard, when we’re battered and scarred | When we’ve spent our resources | When we’ve given our all | In Jesus’ name, we press on.”
That is still the word. Press on.
Think About This: Are you carrying a burden right now that feels too heavy to finish? Tell the Lord exactly where you are. He already knows.
Response: Lord, help me see your plan in a dark moment. Give me strength and courage to keep pressing on toward my fundraising goal, trusting you for the results. Amen.
