The Spiritual Tortoise And The Zealot Hare (April 30, 2006)

"Fab Freddy" was the top physics student at the University of Illinois in the early 1980s. I never met him and don't even know his last name, but I have invoked his example many times when lecturing my sons. I heard about Fab Freddy from my friend Bill, who was a physics student at the same time. Bill was one of the finest mathematical minds ever to graduate from my high school, but in college he was no match for Fab Freddy. No one was. Fab Freddy aced every exam without bothering to study.

A few years later, as Bill was getting his Phd, I asked him about Fab Freddy and was shocked to hear that the genius had flunked out of the Physics Phd program! How was that possible? Bill explained that Freddy was so gifted that as an undergraduate he never had to work hard, and he assumed that he could carry that same breezy confidence into graduate school. But the Phd program was so demanding that even an Einstein would have to study. Fab Freddy never made the adjustment, and students he formerly ran circles around sped by him.

Fable became fact as Bill the Tortoise got his doctorate and went on to Fermilab, and Freddy the Hare never even crossed the finish line of an advanced degree (as far as I know.)

It is possible that in real life Freddy got things turned around and now chairs the Physics Department at MIT. But I'll take as a morality tale the slice of the story as I know it: Fab Freddy's great beginning and tremendous talent could not guarantee success, because they were not supported by the virtues of discipline and perseverance.

I tell this story to my sons mainly as an academic lesson, but I also apply it to spiritual life. Secure endings matter more than spectacular beginnings. I have seen the flash of white-hot zeal from an "on-fire" Christian burn out like a match, and have now come to prefer the type of believer who resembles a consistent, slow-burning
coal that lasts through the night.

Steady progress in the faith is possible if you simply maintain a consistent pace. Shun the overconfidence that assures you that you can manage ok without ordinary disciplines. Remember Fab Freddy. Pray daily, read the Scriptures, go to church, partake of the Lord's Supper and repent of known sin. Do this until you are so old that your mind cannot connect thoughts, your eyes cannot discern print, your legs cannot bring you to church, your throat cannot swallow and your will cannot rebel. Then you will cross the finish line in the time your Lord has ordained, and receive the reward that he will delight to give you. Slow and steady will win the race.