Green Eggs and Ham is one of the most popular children’s books ever written by Theodor Seuss Geisel. In an interview, Dr. Seuss (his pen name), said he wrote Green Eggs and Ham to hopefully get rid of the montonous reading books of Dick, Jane and Spot that many of us over the age of 40 grew up reading in school.

If Sam had been your typical Christian from your typical church then when his friend said, “I do not like them Sam-I-Am, I do not like green eggs and ham.” then Sam would have said, OK. No problem and that would have been the end of the story. Sam would have happily gone on his way and his friend would never have experienced the joy of eating green eggs and ham. But no, Sam wasn’t content to take no for an answer. Luckily for his friend, Sam wasn’t like a typical Christian in a typical church, he wasn’t worried about offending his friend or driving him away. All he knew was how important it was that his friend make the decision to try green eggs and ham.

Sam I Am wanted his friend to try green eggs and ham. Why? Because he liked his friend and he felt like his friend was missing something in his life, in this case it was green eggs and ham. But he cared enough that he not only asked his friend but he continued to ask his friend. His friend mattered to him. Wasn’t Sam I Am great, talk about not giving up. He obviously hadn’t heard the admonition, “If at first you don’t succeed try, try again, but don’t make a complete fool out of yourself.”

Here’s the takeaway from Green Eggs and Ham – Don’t give up, be persistent! That is true for anything you do in life. We live in a culture where the path of least resistance is looked upon as something that is good and desirable. Why continue with something when you have not had success? Simply, because the next time might be the breakthrough moment you have been praying and hoping for. Don’t give up on your marriage. Don’t give up on your kids. Don’t quit taking care of yourself. Don’t stop writing your blog or working on your book. Don’t give up on God.

If you were to look in the dictionary under persistence you would find a picture of Sam-I-Am. I am a missionary and I am a writer and if we are going to see people come to Jesus through our invitations then it will be because of persistence. Just because somebody doesn’t begin a relationship with Jesus the first time you ask doesn’t’ mean that they won’t start that relationship the next time you ask, right? In most cases you need to invite people because they aren’t going to invite themselves.