“I’m Moving Again.”

            Too many believe that great people reached their heights without trials, tribulations, failures, and heartaches. They did not.

            The story is told of a young man, who was a struggling newspaper writer in San Francisco. A lady saw him one day with a cigar box under his arm looking in a shop window. “Mr. Clemens, I always see you with a cigar box under your arm. I'm afraid you are smoking too much,” she told him.

            “It isn't that,” he replied. “I'm moving again.”

            In spite of those dire circumstances, Samuel Clemens would go on to write great novels under a pen name—Mark Twain.

            If you are God's man or God’s woman and are presently facing difficult times, it does not necessarily mean that God is displeased with you. Nor does it mean that you are to remain in difficult times.

            I invite you to faithfully look to God, allow this time to deepen your intimacy with him, enjoy his presence, and wait expectantly for what he will do next in your life. 

            If you do, I can promise your life will never be boring!

Too Succeed… You’ve Got to Fail

            I have in my files a bulletin article written several years ago by a fellow named Coy Roper. It is so good—I thought I would pass it along in its entirety. Be encouraged!

            Baseball fans are all talking about the new base-stealing record set by Ricky Henderson of the Oakland A's. The last time I heard, he had stolen 122 bases, breaking Lou Brock's one-season record of 118, with more than a month still left in the season!

            But before he set that new record, he set another; he broke Ty Cobb's old record of being thrown out 38 times in one season, when he was thrown out for the 39th time in 1982 in a game with the Tigers!

            And that reminded me that Babe Ruth not only held the career record for home runs for many years; he also held (and still holds) the career record for strikeouts!

            And the moral of the story? To succeed much, you've got to try much--and expect to fail often. The preachers who make the most mistakes are the preachers who preach most often. The personal workers who have the greatest number of failures are also the personal workers who win the most souls. Don't quit just because you get "thrown out"; it's those who try often and fail sometimes that end up succeeding.

The Women’s Tee Box

            It can be difficult when our failures become public. Several years ago, a gentleman recounted an awkward moment he had experienced on the golf course:

            It was a sunny Saturday morning on the course and I was at the beginning of my pre-shot routine, visualizing my upcoming shot, when a voice came over the loudspeaker.

            "Would the gentleman on the women's tee back up to the men's tee please!"

            I was still deep in my routine, seemingly impervious to the interruption.

            Again the announcement, "Would the gentleman on the women's tee kindly back up to the men's tee!"

            I simply ignored the guy and kept concentrating, when once more, the man yelled: "WOULD THE MAN ON THE WOMEN'S TEE PLEASE BACK UP TO THE MEN'S TEE!!"

            I finally stopped, turned, looked through the clubhouse window directly at the person with the microphone and shouted back, "WOULD THE IDIOT IN THE CLUBHOUSE KINDLY SHUT UP AND LET ME PLAY MY SECOND SHOT!"

            All of us hit "bad shots" that eventually come to light. All of us fail. All us fall short of God’s glory.

            It seems appropriate, therefore, that we maintain an attitude of winsome humility. That’s what a sinless Jesus did. Thinking of Jesus, Paul wrote,

            Don't be jealous or proud, but be humble and consider others more important than yourselves (Phil. 2:3). CEV

Failure is Good

             I noted that Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski was on the cover of SPORTS ILLUSTRATED last week (along with Pat Summit.) It reminded me of an earlier story in the magazine that appeared back in 1992.

             “Coach K” knew only failure in his early years at Duke. Then, after his program began to win, he experienced consistent failure at the Final 4, culminating with an epic loss to UNLV in the 1990 championship game (103-73.)

            Rather than despair, Krzyzewski sought to learn from each failure. As SI put it, "It's an article of faith with Krzyzewski that failure and success are connected like cause and effect. ‘That's why losing at the Final Four has never been a bother to me,’ he says. ‘There was a bigger thing there.’”

            That attitude has paid off a number of times, including the Final 4 in 1991. Duke accomplished what may have been basketball’s greatest upset, defeating an undefeated UNLV team that some were calling the greatest of all time.

            The Bible offers a consistent message of hope and even redemption after failure. Another reason people often refer to it as “the Good News.”

The Failed Son

         It is tough for a father to have a failure for a son. Such was the case for William, who lived near the town of Dearborn.

         William was farmer. William’s eldest son, Henry, always seemed to suffer from what we today call attention deficit disorder. He was not much help.

         As the child grew, he seemed an even greater disappointment. Farmer fathers typically yearn for their oldest son to stay and work the family farm. “Someday, all of this will be yours!” However, with little education, Henry left home for good at age 16.

         He wandered and for years never seemed to be able to settle down. The father wrote, "Henry is not much of a farmer. He's a tinkerer."

         William Ford lived near Dearborn, Michigan. The name of William’s son was Henry. Chances are, because of Henry, your lips utter William’s last name at least once a week.

*Source: APRIL 1865 by Jay Winik

Marathon!

Did you see the headline last week: “Isner Wins Marathon Wimbledon Match, 70-68?”

In a match of the ages, American John Isner defeated Nicolas Mahut of France in, what we call here, a Texas death match.

The match lasted over 11 hours. The fifth set alone lasted 8 hours and 11 minutes. The match comprised of 980 points.

How do you survive after that win? How do you carry on after that loss? I think both will do fine. Let me explain.

Seizing the day with lofty goals and high expectations is great—if you live only one day. But to live a life with that kind of aspiration can be draining. It is no accident that too often, the smartest people do not get their doctorates, the most talented athletes don’t last, the greatest actors perform in fewer movies, the most talented singers produce fewer records, the brilliant executives do not become president of the firm…

This tennis match is a great example of how to live life. Both players were dedicated. Both gave great effort. Both failed many times. Both fought on. There are more talented players, who would have packed it in much sooner.

A life, given years, is a life filled with many failures. Those whom we view as successful are people, who have a high tolerance for failure. They see life as a marathon; therefore, they shake off any failure along the way and move on. Too often, the best and the brightest cannot tolerate failure, so they quit.

I predict both Isner and Mahut will squeeze every bit out of their individual talent before their careers are done. Consequently, both will retire as successes. And, both will be remembered, if for nothing else, for this epic battle.

So, if you are sitting there this morning lamenting your lack of brains or brawn, be of good cheer. Perhaps, you are blessed with an even more important component—the temperament to proceed even after failure.

Rom. 5:3-5: “3Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.”