Cast Away: Testing Produces Steadfastness (James 1:2-4)

In Cast Away, Chuck Noland survives four years alone on a Pacific island. He loses everything—fiancée, career, civilization. He nearly loses his mind. But he survives, is rescued, and gives a speech to coworkers: "I knew, somehow, that I had to keep breathing. Even though there was no reason to hope... I just had to keep breathing." James writes: "the testing of your faith produces steadfastness." Chuck's trial produced something indestructible—not optimism, but endurance. He learned to keep breathing when breathing was the only thing left. That's steadfastness: the faith that outlasts reasons for faith.