What keeps us moving when life feels like a slot canyon — when the walls are closing in and every practical reason for hope seems to be disappearing?

In this companion episode of Built for Durango, Bob and Pastor DJ Jergensen continue the conversation from DJ’s “Cracked Pots” sermon and Paul’s declaration that we can be “hard-pressed, but not crushed.” But they make an important distinction: the Christian response to suffering isn't simply to toughen up, try harder or summon enough willpower to keep moving. Before we can persevere, we need a reason to believe there is somewhere worth going.

Bob and DJ explore the distinctly Christian source of that hope. The Kingdom of God is both “now and not yet.” Following Jesus doesn't guarantee that everything will go well or that faith will protect us from pain, loss and disappointment. Instead, faith gives us a supernatural source of strength in the middle of life as it really is. God is present even when the canyon walls haven't moved.

Bob shares how that truth has become deeply practical during a difficult season of his own life. Sometimes faith doesn't keep us out of the canyon; it prepares us to walk through it. And when logic can't provide an explanation for why we should still have peace, contentment or hope, trusting an all-powerful God allows us to keep taking the next step.

DJ brings the conversation back to Paul's example: belief comes before perseverance. When our hearts begin to believe again, we stop seeing only the walls closing around us and begin looking toward the hope ahead. And when we can't find that hope ourselves, we need one another. Sometimes someone else's story of how God brought them through the darkness is exactly what helps us believe again.

And when we've made it through our own darkness? That's our opportunity to become that light for someone else.