Caleb's Enduring Passion

At the age of forty, Caleb was one of the twelve spies Moses sent into Canaan to report on the land and it's inhabitants. They weren't sent to determine if the people of Israel could take the land. The land was already promised to them. It had been given by God to their father, Abraham.
But ten of the twelve said they couldn't take the land. It was "too hard." The people who occupied the land were "too big." And the people of God were "too small."
Caleb's response to their fear and doubt was passionate. "Hey! God already gave us the land. Forget how big they are. Forget how hard it will be. Let's go take the land!"
But it was too late. Fear had infected the people. And God sentenced them to wandering in the wilderness for forty years, until all the doubters died in the desert. All would die except for Joshua and Caleb, the ones who believed God and advocated for taking the land. They would receive a blessing in the Promised Land.

Fast forward forty-five years. The children of Israel have entered Canaan. They've defeated the kings and kingdoms inhabiting the land. Now the land is being divided as Moses had directed. Out from the back of the crowd steps and old man. His skin is bronzed and leathery from the desert sun. Forty years of walking among the rocks will do that. But there is a fire in his eyes. As he begins to speak his passion is evident. Forty five long years have done nothing to dull the fervor of his heart and soul. (Joshua 14:6-13)

Then the sons of Judah drew near to Joshua in Gilgal, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh said to him, "You know the words which the Lord spoke to Moses the man of God concerning you and me in Kadesh-barnea.
I was forty years old when Moses the servant of the Lord sent me from Kadesh-barnea to spy out the land, and I brought word back to him as it was in my heart.
Nevertheless my brethren who went up with me made the heart of the people melt with fear; but I followed the Lord my God fully.
So Moses swore on that day, saying, 'Surely the land on which your foot has trodden shall be an inheritance to you and your children forever, because you followed the Lord my God fully.'
And now behold, the Lord has let me live, just as He spoke, these forty-five years, from the time that the Lord spoke this word to Moses, when Israel walked in the wilderness; and now behold, I am eighty-five years old today.
I am still as strong today as I was in the day Moses sent me; as my strength was then, so my strength is now, for war and for going out and coming in.
Now then, give me this hill country about which the Lord spoke on that day, for you heard that day that Anakim were there, with great fortified cities; perhaps the Lord will be with me, and I shall drive them out as the Lord has spoken."
So Joshua blessed him, and gave Hebron to Caleb the son of Jephunneh for an inheritance.

Caleb waited forty-five years. But his passion never left him. Still determined. Still trusting God. Still desiring to see what God had promised come to pass. Caleb hadn't forgotten. He hadn't given up. He was still fired-up about what he knew to be right; about this land that he'd walked through four decades prior.

And the reward for such enduring passion? (Joshua 15:14) And Caleb drove out from there the three sons of Anak: Sheshai and Ahiman and Talmai, the children of Anak.
Caleb was still the baddest man in Israel.