02/25/2026
I had just arrived in Illesheim, Germany. Man, I was excited to be in Europe, and I couldn’t wait to get to my unit and get back into the fight. I arrived, and I made points within the first few weeks of being there. BAM! Now, I am a newly minted Sergeant in a new unit with no idea how to lead soldiers.
“Congratulations,” my leadership said, “allow us to introduce you to your new soldiers!” They didn’t give me the cream of the crop. They filled me up with the ones that no one wanted to keep. The NCO Creed says, “Competence is my watchword,” but I think “trouble” should replace the word "competence." I found enough trouble within that unit to last two lifetimes, but little did I know that trouble is one of the refining tools of achievement.
Genesis 37 details the beginning of trouble in Joseph’s life. He was son #11 to Jacob aka Israel. Benjamin was the youngest. Joseph was different from his brothers in the sense that he was a dreamer. In fact, he wasn’t satisfied with having the dreams, he told his brothers about them.
His brothers hated Joseph. I know, hate is a strong word, but that’s exactly what happened. It didn’t help that everyone knew that Joseph was his daddy’s favorite. Jacob went so far as to give Joseph a special coat.
Between the dreams and being daddy’s favorite son, you can almost see it coming. The brothers are going to take matters into their own hands.
Jacob tells Joseph to go check on his brothers, and he obeys. After asking for directions, he finds his brothers. However, thanks to his coat, his brothers recognized him. They plan on killing him, but Rueben saves him from that plan. Instead, they strip him of his coat and toss Joseph into a pit. They tear the coat and dip it in animal blood. Then, while Ruben is away, they sell Joseph into slavery.
Man, that’s some brothers, right?!
The slave traders take Joseph into Egypt and sell him to Potiphar. That starts a whole new level of trouble. Potiphar’s wife won’t leave him alone. When Joseph refuses, she tries to force matters, but Joseph runs out of the house and leaves his robe behind. Of course, she devises a wicked plan and tells her husband, “He tried to r**e me, but I screamed.” Now, Joseph finds himself in prison.
I’m sure Joseph’s about had his belly full of trouble. It seems like one pile of trouble just lands him into another batch of trouble. So far, Joseph has been hated, lied on, thrust into prison, and while in prison he interprets two dreams, and the dude that gets out of prison forgets about him.
13 years pass from the time Joseph enters Egypt until he is elevated to Vice President of Egypt. Can you imagine that? What seemed like a nice stroll out to check on his brothers turns into a full-scale game of “what will happen next?”
“What can we learn from this?”
Sometimes, what seems to be trouble might be the tools that God uses to promote us to greater heights.
Let’s look at the New Testament correlation to Joseph, the Apostle Paul. The Apostle Paul, like Joseph, knew what trouble was (read II Corinthians 11:16-27). He was beaten with rods, stoned, shipwrecked, jailed, and more. Sometimes we feel as if life has beaten us within an inch of our lives, but none of us have been beaten with rods or stoned for what we believe in.
Paul is in jail in Rome awaiting his ex*****on when he penned these words: I’ve fought a good fight, I finished my course, I kept the faith.
There was no give up in either of these men. Their circumstances seemed to be overwhelming, but they continued to march forward. Trouble will come. We all go through it. The storms may rage, but storms don’t matter when you know the Peace Speaker. We’re all familiar with pain, but pain serves a purpose: It reminds us that we’re not dead yet. We aren’t through just yet.
The Olympics were held in Tokyo, Japan in 1964. There was a young runner from Sri Lanka, we’ll call him K, who ran in the 10,000-meter race. His side began to hurt as he ran around the track. His opponents lapped him, and soon he found himself several laps behind. He clutched his side and continued to run. Even after the whistle was blown and the victor crossed with his hands held high, K still ran.
People were leaving the stadium when they noticed that K was still running. People booed him. They laughed at him. He kept running. Their boos and mockery soon turned into cheers. They stood and clapped and cheered for this man that refused to quit. When asked why he continued to run, K said, “I have a daughter back home. When she grows up, I will tell her that her father went to the Tokyo Olympics and ran until the end even though he lost the race.”
57 years after this race, K’s granddaughter now works in Japan. Her motto is the same as her grandfather’s: “You must finish what you start.”
This spirit of never give up impressed the Japanese so much that they put K’s story in their textbooks. Years after the race, the testimony of a runner that never gave up still provides inspiration and hope for future generations.
Don’t give up. You can do this. God bless you all.
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