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| The Makings of a Champion |
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Throughout my nearly 50 years of living on this planet, there is one thing I've found out. When throwing a pity-party - not many people turn up. And if they do, nobody wants to talk about it, and they nearly always change the subject because they don't want to get involved. As a friend once said to me "if you feed it - it will grow." Now wasn't that an eye-opening statement before I even start my message?
For every success if life, those successes were built on a series of failures. And the reason they were successes is because they were built on a series of failures. If I were to write something about myself, physically speaking I am borderline being weak. I cannot run, I cannot walk long distances, prolonged standing is out of the question, and if I were to concentrate on everything I cannot do - you might as well beam me up! But I seemed to have developed something that on a wider scale not many people have. Its the refusal to give up, the refusal to stand down, and the refusal to wave the white flag of surrender when everything around me is going belly up. When my back is against the wall - I come out fighting!
Businessman W. Edwards Deming once said, your system is perfectly designed to give you the results you're getting. If I were to take what he said as gospel and translate it into this message, the way people think is the way they become, because we're perfectly designed to be a failure if we allow it to be. To be a success in life is the devil's best kept secret that he doesn't want anybody to know about. Whilst people are concentrating on their weaknesses - they'll never become a success. Are people getting the message so far?
I watched the film "Rocky Balboa" a couple of weeks back, and I don't know if people realise this or not, but Sylvester Stallone had to go into serious training for that film before that film was ever shot, and the last scene shot in the film was actually the first scene that was shot in the film because his body was at optimum peak performance. And instead of getting an actor to play a boxer role, he got a boxer to play an actor role. You see, I like to see what happens behind the scene's of a film - not just the film itself, and apparently the punches people see on that film were real.
His portrayal of Rocky whilst in training in the film said he was too old, suffered with arthritis and got fat appearing all over the place, but he knew there was something inside him that wanted to give it one last shot. So instead of concentrating on all the negatives, he concentrated on the one thing he knew he could do. And one thing struck me when he was talking to his son in the film. The making of a champion is not how many punches you can take, but how many punches you can take and still get back up for more. I won't tell people how it ended, but it had a serious storyline to it that cannot be ignored. Its like so many other films I have seen, they all have a serious storyline to them, but they're not all dressed up in Christian lingo, but they're there if only people would take their rose-coloured glasses off to see it.
So finally. How can I tie up this message to sound all Christan lingo you may be thinking to yourself? Well try this one out for size and think to yourself, have I got the makings of a champion?
2 Corinthians 4:8-9 [NIV]. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.
Personally speaking, until people suffer a setback, until people's backs are against the wall, and until people are shoved into a corner with seemingly no way out, every negative thing in life will not come out with a positive result. Its called flexing your faith muscles. But how can people flex something when there's nothing to oppose it? You see, when I read my bible, I don't read it out of religious obligation. I read it because every word that is written has power to overcome - if only people would take their religious glasses off and see it for the truth that's written in it. But it all depends if people follow a "religion" or the life that Jesus died to give people doesn't it?
I may be bodily weak in some areas of life, and the one thing people can see - is the one thing that is evident. But there is one thing people don't see when they see it. Its what's locked up inside that nobody can take away. To the world I'm a disabled person or a person with a disability. And would you believe it if I said this. Some of my family even think so too. But there's one person who doesn't think like that, and that person is me. Why? Because I went into serious training during my childhood, and I concentrate on the things I can do rather than the things I can't do.
When I first started writing this blog, I had one person in mind. But by the ending of this blog there were a lot of other people in mind. People like Cheryl from Oklahoma that has undergone cancer treatment. To be quite honest with you, I'm man enough to say I wouldn't know what I'd do if faced with that situation, but I think there's something inside her that's very similar to mine, but she shows it in a different way. I dare say it hinges very close to 2 Corinthians 4:8-9. When your back is against the wall - you come out fighting! So "one person I had in mind." What is it that you think you've got that you think God cannot sort out? Its the difference between following a religion and following a lifestyle. Its a lifestyle that strengthens you up for the fight ahead - not beats you down and on the verge of quitting. Success is built on a series of failures. So have you got the makings of a champion to be a success? |
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Cheryl |
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April 05, 2008 at 8:57am |
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Wow, I am intears....
Thank you, what a mighty God we serve...He Is Faithful! |
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| You've got the makings of a champion Cheryl, and I for one tilt my hat off to you. |
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| My mother always instilled in me as a child, cross the "T" off the word "can't." You can if you try. Believe me, in some realms I enter into - I can be very "trying." |
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Cheryl |
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April 05, 2008 at 9:19am |
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| Can do ALL things through Christ who strengthens me..... |
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| Wow! Thank you so much for sharing this. I've seen the movie...well, seen all of them. My husband is a Rocky fan! We own them all. That particular scene you recall is one of my favorites. If we all would concentrate on what we "can do"...how powerful would we be? Thank you for sharing. |
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| Aye up, we've got another Rocky fan! As for your other comment Valarie, how powerful could we be if only we would take the word "can't" out of our vocabulary? It may be tough getting there, but at least we'd get there. As Cheryl says, we can do ALL things in Christ who strengthens us (me, you and everyone else who believes it). |
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| Absolutely! My gymnastics instructor always said, "can't never could do anything". I loved that guy! |
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You know, I saw the last Rocky movie ("Rocky Balboa"?), and I thought it was forgettable. But then, if I'd read your blog and then watched it, I'd have seen it for the Christian allegory it is. Then again, I could've just saved the time and read your blog!
Seriously, great message g.r. Like, awesome! We really need to hear more of this kind of message. Too many "Christians" fall apart the moment they encounter adversity. Which leads onlookers to wonder if Christ is all he's cracked up to be, and if God really exists at all. Yessir, exercise those "faith muscles"!! Amen, and thanks again! |
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Cheryl |
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April 05, 2008 at 10:15am |
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| Mike is so right! |
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My dad always told us, " Can't never did anything! " I think of those words often! Great Blog! Thanks!!  GoD'S, PeAcE aNd LoVe |
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Thanks everyone for your comments, and yes I do know my blogs are long sometimes, but I do that for a reason. Those that persevere find something. And the reason some "Christians" fall apart is because they want a drive-thru breakthrough. What they don't want to do is go through. So yes Mike 'n' Laura I agree.
As for the comment on "have you ever known how victory feels unless you've experienced defeat?" Answer, you won't. Success is built on a series of failures if you don't give up.
Now my little friend Lara. That's a big word for you! LOL!!! When people suffer setbacks, their default-mode is that of pity - and ultimately the dark place of depression. Been there, done it and brought the tee-shirt.
Roughly 15 years ago was a major depression moment for me where everything fell to bits. The one thing that pulled me out of that depression moment (and no, it wasn't a drive-thru breakthrough moment) was not what I was going through, but the people I'd leave behind if I went through with it if you get my drift? You see, the one thing people don't consider when they go into pity or deep depression is the effect it has on other people who see them go through it. Everything you write thereafter I agree with 100%. Me too has got enough without adding more fuel to the fire. Again I'm thinking of other people and not myself. |
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| I may be getting the wrong end of your comment about reading the New Testament, but I'd rather read one verse and it make sense - than a whole chapter and it don't make sense. Why read something when you know what the outcome is going to be? Believe it or not, that verse I mentioned in my blog, many people cling onto that one verse than the rest of the verses that are written in that chapter. That one verse has saved their life. |
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| Great blog for the "other" person Steve, my wrist has been truly slapped! Thanks Bro, love Stu. |
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Believe it or not Stuart, there's a bit of me in there as well.
One thing I learnt over my pity-parties of past - is that not only does it affect me, it affects other people also who were not involved. That to me was a painful experience. It was so painful that no matter how tempting it felt, I learnt not to do it again because of the hurt and pain it inflicted on other people, most of it being emotional. All I had to do was look in my mother's eyes to see the damage I was doing, and that hurt more than I was hurting.
When things are down - I start looking up, because I can't do it by myself. I may act like Superman sometimes, but the bullets don't fly off my chest like in the movies. They penetrate like everything else.
Like I mentioned to another person who commented here, those words in 2 Corinthians 4:8-9 are things people cling onto. Paraphrasing and adding my own comments: We are hard pressed (but we are not a failure because we keep moving forward) perplexed (but we are not a failure because we keep moving forward) persecuted (but we are not a failure because we keep moving forward) and struck down (but we are not a failure because we keep moving forward).
The only time people stop moving forward is when they start looking back. Self-pity is one of the most debilitating conditions that Satan has ever thrown at us to (forgive the way I put this) paralyse us in the moment. And once that starts growing roots - just read Lara's comments on depression. My only addition to Lara's comment is, every minute feels like an hour, and every hour feels like a day, and you pray for the night to fall just to close your eyes for a few hours before it starts all over again. Need I go on? |
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| been there a few thousand times Steve! |
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Gene |
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April 08, 2008 at 8:18pm |
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After reading your blog, I really like your last statement the best - "The only time people stop moving forward is when they start looking back"
That just about sums it up doesn't it? A champion will keep moving. |
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