Tim Arrigo describes a rat that survived 60 hours treading water after initially giving up at 15 minutes, arguing hope itself extended its endurance. He tells listeners clinging to darkness that their present struggles become tomorrow's strength, and urges them to share their stories as examples for others.
So there was an experiment done with rats where they put the rat inside a bowl of water to see how long the rat could tread water. And the rat would tread water for about 15 minutes before it would give up and start to drown. And they took the rat off and, you know, they dried the rat off and let the rat, you know, relax for a little bit. And then they put the rat back in in the water the second time to see how long the rat could tread water a second time. And now you would think, you know, the rat tread water for 15 minutes and then, you know, eventually started to drown. You know, maybe the rat could last, you know, maybe 10 minutes or, you know, but no, the rat would tread water the second time for 60 hours. 60 hours. And the only conclusion that they could come up with in terms of why this rat could tread water for so long is that the rat had hope. You can never lose hope. You got to have hope that your life can change. You got to have hope that you can break free. You got to have hope that you can see the sunset again one day with a different pair of eyes. You got to have hope that you can get your kids back. You got to have hope that you can get your marriage back intact. You got to have hope that God's going to come through and deliver on his promises. You got to have hope. I know some of you are in darkness right now, and I was too. I was in a dark time in my life so many times, so many times I wanted to give up, but I, I clung on to that little shred of hope. And you know, guys, sometimes we want to give up, but the struggles of your today will be the strength of your tomorrow. And if you're not dead, then God's not done. He's not finished with you. He's, he's He's not done writing that story of your life. So I want to let all of you know today, right? Hang on. Hope can take you somewhere. It can allow you to last. And, you know, it'll allow you to see another day. It'll allow you to keep pushing, keep fighting, keep persevering. Guys, never lose hope because there's somebody out there that needs to hear your story. They need to hear your story. Some of you guys are sitting on a gold mine. Right? And the gold mine is your story, your testimony. There's so much power in your testimony. There's people that their lives are going to be changed by the story that you tell them about your life, because some people don't need you to preach a sermon, they need to see you live one.
