The Dip
Seth Godin writes about what he calls “the dip.”
By this, Seth means a valley, the time after initial enthusiasm wanes and hard work is left, that period of time when perseverance is what gets you through. He goes on to explain that most folks don’t make it through the dip.
But what’s enlightening about Godin’s work on this is that the folks who don’t make it through the dip don’t fail on the downhill slide or even at the bottom. They fail just before they emerge from the dip into the light of success, the dawn of the new day.
Weller and Pope train men and women who aspire to make it in the military special forces and operation teams. Think Navy SEALS, Army Rangers and Green Berets, Air Force PJs, and Marine MARSOC. Each has their tailored training regimen, but none more famous than the Navy’s BUD/S program, an absolutely hellacious three-week program with a finale designed to discover and exploit any vulnerability against the ultimate pinning of the Navy Trident.
The washout rate—the percentage of those who don’t make it through training—is about 70%. Given the physical demands of BUD/S training, one would think the 70% fail physically, but Weller and Pope report that of those who fail to make it, 90% simply quit. In short, they fail mentally, not physically.
Nothing we encounter is of sufficient note to cause God to stand up in consternation.
Blending Weller and Pope and Godin together: of those who fail to make it through the dip, the vast majority will fail mentally, not physically or strategically.
Perseverance. Tenacity. Grit. Character. Determination. Focus. Resilience. These are mental qualities, not physical attributes—and here’s why this is important: Scripture speaks a little bit about the body, but it speaks volumes about the mind.
So why have I told you this?
Two reasons: First, I figure you need some outside perspective and encouragement about the dip you are experiencing. Second, I want to take you through a dip and demonstrate how to manage.
While we wander the labyrinth of our days, stumbling and fumbling and blooding our noses, John writes, “…behold a throne standing in heaven, and One sitting on the throne” (4:2b). No matter the mess or confusion of chaos, nothing we encounter is of sufficient note to cause God to stand up in consternation.
God’s got you. God’s got me. Meaning: He has you in His grip, but even more profound, He’s got you in His heart. You are integrated into His life.
He is seated on His throne.
Now, here’s how this works for me.
Last night I was in bed by 10:30 PM, an hour late. Then, I watched every hour of the night click past until I got up at 4:45 AM, made coffee, and took my seat here, at my keyboard, to visit with you.
Throughout the night, I processed many things and resolved a number of questions. But I probably heard in my thoughts, Pres, I’ve got you, a dozen times. Reassurance. God letting me know that there are two ways to consider life: First, there is the dip and the reassurance that He is seated on His throne (cf. Rev. 4:2) and I’m seated next to Him (cf. Eph. 2:6). Second: I can panic that it is night and I’m supposed to be asleep—but I’m not.
People pay Craig Weller and Jonahan Pope a lot of money to make them successful in their quest to join the military’s elite warriors. Weller and Pope teach them diet and exercise, but if 90% of those who fail training do so in their heads, where do you suppose Weller and Pope focus their attention?
For us, followers of Jesus Christ, Scripture guides our mental training. If we appropriate it into our lives.
We digest Scripture at the mentoring knee of a trusted guide. We rely upon the tutoring of the Holy Spirit. We practice the practices demonstrated by your Older Brother, i.e. the spiritual disciplines. And we discuss life—we pray—with our heavenly Father throughout each moment of every day. *
Those in control of society have determined that you can’t have your subscriptions.
Now, let’s consider a dip and how I’m managing in it.
You know I’ve been cancelled, blocked from participating in societal discourse by the powerful of our society. Unfortunately, this problem is getting worse—more pervasive and far-reaching—rather than better.
This means: You subscribed to receive my blog and/or Anabel’s devotional. But those in control of society have determined that you can’t have these subscriptions delivered to you because they are counter to their social narrative.
Maybe I can get this fixed, maybe not. I’m working on it, but this is a remarkable problem.
Meanwhile, your only reliable option is to set a reminder to visit https://anabelgillham.com/ for Anabel’s daily devotional and https://www.prestongillham.com/ for my articles.
Candidly: Those superintending this silencing are deluded souls. They call themselves defenders of democracy, but in their zeal to advance their views with political favor and power, they have become tyrants.
Of which, Jefferson wrote: “Tyranny is defined as that which is legal for the government but illegal for the citizenry.”
What should you do?
Our sister in the faith, Päivi Räsänen, who is on trial in Finland because she quoted from Scripture, has unanimously won each of her trials. But as of April 2024, the Supreme Court of Finland announced it would nevertheless give the Prosecutor General permission to appeal Päivi’s (unanimous) acquittal before the Helsinki Court of Appeal. To a watching world, freedom of religious expression is on trial. In her email to me, Päivi said she has prepared herself to appear before the Supreme Court—even the European Court of Human Rights if necessary—to defend the right to site from Scripture.
Two dips: mine, which affects you, and Päivi’s. And if you are paying attention, persecution of Christians is more pronounced today than at any other time in humankind’s history. This dip, both personal and pervasive, of religious suppression is deep, dark, and with America’s participation, it is growing worldwide.
So, what should you do?
1 Thessalonians 5:17 says, “Pray without ceasing.” Each moment, each breath, each second—you pray.
But how?
Scripture says Jesus is near. He’s in our mouth and in your heart. He’s the word you speak, think, contemplate, and engage (cf. Rom. 10:8).
Therefore, when I step onto my patio prior to first-light and say with a determined whisper and upturned palms: “Father, thank you for the day. Your mercies are new. I believe you are good. It is my heart’s desire to live in your power today, Amen”—I am determining to pray without ceasing.
Meaning: I’m taking Scripture literally. Jesus is the Word and He is the word in my mouth and heart. My morning prayer recognizes this, relies upon this as true, and states my default for my daily activities.
Thus, as I think, as I speak, as I write, as I engage, unless the Spirit draws me up short, then I believe I am praying with every breath, each thought, and in all my interactions.
In addition, I am not the first person—we are not the first people—to be in a dip of this sort. I suspect there are thousands in America today suffering the same silencing that I am, exiled in a technological Siberia. Is there precedent for how we conduct ourselves in the dip?
I’m reading to discover how they kept their heads together.
Paul wrote at least four of his thirteen books of the New Testament while incarcerated.
In November 1660, the Puritan preacher, John Bunyan, was sentenced to three months in prison… but was left there for twelve years. While in prison, Bunyan wrote Pilgrim’s Progress, one of the all-time, best-selling works of Christian literature.
Watchman Nee. Richard Wurmbrand. Joseph Tson. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Each was imprisoned and each completed seminal works of faith while in the darkest of dips. And literally, space would fail me if I wrote of the millions of other Believers with similar stories.
I have read these people. I’ve considered their theology and reports of God’s faithfulness to them. But of late, I’ve re-read them—but with these re-readings I’m reading between the lines to discover how they kept their heads together in the depths of the dip.
Solzhenitsyn wrote with indignancy. His book, The Gulag Archipelago, was awarded the Nobel Prize.
Nee wrote of his significance as a child of God. Though despised as a member of Communist society, his identity was in Christ.
Wurmbrand wrote of torture. He also wrote of confident comfort in Christ.
Tson faced his Communist examiner-executioner and said,
“Sir, let me explain how I see this issue. Your supreme weapon is killing. My supreme weapon is dying. Here is how it works. You know that my sermons on tape have spread all over the country. If you kill me, those sermons will be sprinkled with my blood. Everyone will know I died for my preaching. And everyone who has a tape will pick it up and say, ‘I’d better listen again to what this man preached, because he really meant it: he sealed it with his life.’ So, sir, my sermons will speak 10 times louder than before. I will actually rejoice in this supreme victory if you kill me”
Bonhoeffer wrote his greatest work from Tegal Prison—and his thoughts were published posthumously. Hitler ordered him hanged less than a week before he took his own life.
I can’t see the horizon on the other side of the dip.
These have shown the way. Now, what of me? What of you?
The dip is dark. Never in my lifetime have American Christians been suppressed like we currently are. It is scandalous that I have spent several hundred dollars trying to escape society’s blockage. But, I have, and in all candor, I can’t see the horizon on the other side of the dip. Neither can you, I suspect.
What happened? I published humankind’s enlightened thinking: Aquinas, Kant, Descartes, Hegel, Marx, Nietzsche, Sartre. How did societal enlightenment compare to the light and life of Jesus Christ?
I explored government and church and each’s capacity to manage our most profound concerns and needs. I concluded that our needs are great! In fact, they are so significant and far-reaching that only two options are before us: government or God. Which will be our source of reliance?
For this question I am no longer permitted to speak into the public forum. Your capability to reliably read my work or Anabel’s is severely compromised unless you take extra steps that are dictated by society’s powerful.
Thus, as people of faith, we pray. We consider those who’ve gone before us for inspiration. We call upon the Holy Spirit for guidance and comfort. We persevere. Focus. As the subtitle of my book Swagger states, we keep our wits about us—because others are not.
Will a new day dawn in our lifetime? I don’t know. But in this moment, I am determined to live each day looking to Jesus, the author and finisher of the faith to which I adhere and am consumed because it is in Him and through Him that I live, and move, and have my being.
The same is true for you. The dip is dark… but it is doing you the favor of defining and declaring Christ your only hope. Will you?
Here’s a link to my podcast with Tony Clark and Frank Friedmann: https://rumble.com/c/c-5892078/videos
Here is the link to Anabel’s devotional: https://anabelgillham.com
And, here is the link to my blog and site: https://prestongillham.com
Note: * This is what I’ve written about in my book, Rigorous Grace. You can purchase it via this link: https://www.prestongillham.com/rigorous-grace