stay true to your purpose no matter how true anyone else stays to it.

So there's a fella in the bible most people have heard of - even my friends who aren't Christians. His name is Noah.

One day God came to Noah and said he'd had it with the direction of the world so he was going to wipe it out with a flood and start over. And Noah, he decided, was going to be who he'd start over with.

God told Noah to build a giant boat and collect two of every animal and gather all the food he'd need and then load up with his family and ride out the storm.

For the next 120 years or so, that's what Noah did. He worked on this boat. And from there, the starting over story is history.

As a runner who has run some long races, and has faced the moments of doubt, the moments where I've questioned what on earth am I doing, moments when I'd had enough and flat out quit on the race, I've wondered how many moments of uncertainty Noah faced in those 120 years.

How many times did Noah post updates on Facebook about his project and people responded with negative comments or people didn't hit the like button on his post or more people liked someone else's post about what they were doing with their life than liked Noah's post about his life.

How did Noah respond to all the uncertainty he clearly faced over the years by continuing to day after day hammer away on that boat?

I think the answer is purpose.

Whatever method God used to put that boat building plan on Noah's heart or in his ears or in his mind or all of the above, it got planted there so firmly that nothing was going to keep Noah from pulling it off.

Not his friends walking by giving him strange looks. Not his family thinking he'd lost his mind; because surely they did at times. Not seeing people around him prosper while he "wasted his time" on a 120 year boat project.

No, I think the only voice Noah listened to was the voice of purpose.

Do you have something in your life you'd work on for the next 120 years, something you feel so strongly about nothing anyone could say or do would deter you from pursuing it. Is it an idea strong enough that if you put it out here today and not one person "liked" the idea, you'd keep plowing ahead with it.

Do you have an idea or a mission or a way of life that's been shouted or whispered into your heart so clearly that nothing on earth could stop you from hammering on that idea, even if it takes you the next 120 years?

You know, I think I missed out on some boat building projects in my life. I think there have been whispers that I ignored, many of them for fear of how other people would or wouldn't respond.

I like to think I don't miss out on as many of those opportunities these days. I don't think that's because I've developed an ability to ignore what other people think or how other people respond to my boat building projects; we are all human - what other people think - their "likes" - they matter to us.

What I have gotten better at is re-focusing. I've gotten better at knowing where and when I need to remind myself life is about being perfectly true to my purpose and not perfectly approved by everyone who encounters that purpose.

There's a story in the bible about Jesus being baptized. It goes like this:

As soon as Jesus was baptized, He went up out of the water. Suddenly the heavens were opened, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and resting on Him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased!”

For me, there really is only one "like" I'm pursuing in life. It's one that descends like a dove. Oh, Facebook and other social media platforms are good at distracting me and maybe us from that.

But today, when that distraction lures me away from my purpose, I will think of the boat.

I will remember the dove.

I wonder if Facebook would consider replacing the thumbs up image with a picture of a dove?

OK - well, it was worth the thought 😃.

Today pursue purpose. Do not be sidetracked by uncertainty.