Undaunted is a good word.

To be undaunted in life is desirable.

Our world needs more undaunted people. For the undaunted, the impossible becomes possible.

Consider the synonyms for daunted: Intimidated, scared, frightened, overwhelmed, afraid, alarmed and terrified. We agree. None of these synonyms are pleasant human responses to life. We dislike intimidation. Our blood pressure and pulse rates are elevated whenever we are scared…or any of the other terms synonymous for daunted.

We celebrate and commemorate those individuals whose lives reveal undaunted spirits. The undaunted individuals in our world are uncommon. The undaunted are long remembered. Count me as one who desires to be undaunted throughout the days of life. My guess is, you desire that too.

But to be undaunted requires suffering. While we wish it otherwise, nothing in life worthwhile is easy. Neither of us enjoys suffering. The benefits of an undaunted soul come from suffering.

To be undaunted is to persevere. To be undaunted is to continue when every life event tells us far enough, you can go no further. To be undaunted means you go on anyway. The undaunted one endures. The undaunted endures the discomfort, physical, emotional and mental anguish which life brings. To be undaunted is to accept the unknown, separation, and fear; then live with them each day. There is no room for self-pity.

Impossible you think.

No human can with stand all of these physical and metal challenges and carry on. Wrong. The human mind and body can withstand far more than we believe…more than we think. History provides a powerful true example. This example is not of a single undaunted human, but of 32. Not one individual who endured extreme physical, mental and emotional challenges-thirty-two. These thirty-two humans did not endure such extreme challenges for a week, not a few days but from July of 1879 to October 6 of 1881; more than two years.

In today’s world we are quickly daunted. Weather events intimidate us. Viruses and sicknesses bring alarm even terror. Physical challenges we often avoid-we fear we may become injured or sick. That we may experience momentary discomfort. Mental challenges and severe problems we avoid as too time consuming or not worth the effort. More often than not, we desire life to always be easy.

On July 8, 1879, the USS Jeanette, a US Naval Vessel, sailed from San Francisco harbor toward the North Pole. The ship’s captain was George DeLong. Thirty-one other sailors and crew accompanied Captain DeLong. The objective of the expedition was to explore the Arctic. As recently as 1868 Arctic “experts” believed that the Gulf Stream current of the Atlantic and the Kuro Siwo current of the Pacific met at the north polar ice cap-and kept the Arctic waters both warm and ice free. They termed this a “thermal wallop” which they believed abolished the arctic climate creating open sea at the North Pole. We know the truth now. All but seven perished in the Arctic ice of exposure and starvation.  

Consider living for over two years in temperatures below freezing. While the USS Jeanette remained above the surface of the Arctic Ocean, these explorers had the safety and relative comfort of the wooden ship which brought them into the Arctic. Just one month short of two years of being completely trapped in polar ice, the Jeanette sank. From June 1881 until October 1881 the crew of the USS Jeanette was divided into three lifeboat “teams.” When their ship sank, they were an estimated 1000 miles from the nearest coast. This coast was perhaps the most forbidding of all, it was northern Siberia. The crew of the Jeanette was undaunted. They loaded survival gear and food into the three life boats and began the journey to Siberia PUSHING the three loaded life boats over Arctic ice. When the spring season melted the ice pack to floating ice floes and later to open Arctic ocean, these explorers continued the push to Siberia. One life boat and crew were lost, in a gale. No sign of them was ever found. For three months-24 hours a day, this group of explorers were constantly wet, and cold. They suffered the pain of frostbite and hunger. They endured sleepless nights. All this time they dealt with the growing suspicion that they might not survive-they lived with fear. Yet, in all of this there was no self-pity. Each suffered unbearable conditions with stoic undaunted courage.

On the second New Year’s Eve-still trapped in Arctic ice, Captain DeLong encouraged his crew with the words, “we are not yet daunted.” For Captain DeLong and the crew with him “not yet daunted” meant the impossible was possible. The crew of the Jeanette carried on. Two thirds of the crew reached the shore of Siberia in some of earth’s most violent weather. Undaunted, but slowly starving with frozen feet causing him to be unable to walk Captain DeLong preserved the ship’s records and his Captain’s journals. Without them, this extraordinary expedition of human endurance would have been lost without any record of its remarkable achievements.

(This is a truly remarkable and unforgettable history! Read the account of DeLong, the USS Jeanette and crew in Hampton Sides book In the Kingdom of Ice. I couldn’t put it down!)

Being undaunted by the circumstances of life is within reach of every person. However, strength to be undaunted by events and life problems does come from human ability. Character strength comes from God. Paul, the apostle, reminds us that God’s love gives us hope. Hope in the eternal strength of God enables you and I to rejoice in suffering…endure hard things and develop human character which produces hope. To be undaunted we must have hope. Hope (and an undaunted spirit) come from God! It is God’s love which produces an undaunted human spirit.

“…but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”

Romans 5:3-5

Where do these desirable character qualities originate? God gives them to every human who seeks Him. God is strength. There is no weakness in Him.

“My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”

Psalm 73:26

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