Never, Never Quit

Scripture

I have not achieved perfection, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race.

~Philippians 3:13-14, NLT

Quote

Strong minds suffer without complaining; weak minds complain without suffering.

~Charles Cowman

Three of my favorite characters in history are the Apostle Paul, Winston Churchill and good king Josiah. All three had a tenacious spirit; the spirit of a bulldog. They sang their teeth into the problem and would not let go. You will not accomplish much in this life if you give up or in easily. As Spurgeon said, “By perseverance, the snail reached the ark.” Charles Cowman said, “It is inspiring to see a man advanced in years piling fresh fuel on his altar fires.” There are times when you have to keep on keeping on. Jeremiah is another example: he preached to an obstinate congregation and saw very little positive response but he did not quit preaching. He understood that the hammer [God’s word] would eventually break the rock [the hardened Jews]. If you keep pounding and do not give up, eventually the hammer will shatter the rock.

Paul was not a young man when he wrote the letter to Phillipi. He was probably in his 60’s which of course is young to me but not to most of you. There was no let up in Paul: he was not about to give in or up. Matter of fact, he could see the finish line and he gave it his all. I want you to read Paul’s personal testimony found in 1 Corinthians 9; this is from the MESSAGE...I don’t know about you, but I’m running hard for the finish line. I’m giving it everything I’ve got. No sloppy living for me! I’m staying alert and in top condition. I’m not going to get caught napping, telling everyone else all about it and then missing out myself. Wow! May God help us to think like Paul.

My old running buddy, Morris Hill, use to say before every meet, “To finish is to win.” He was a big man, about 6’2″ and 240 pounds and of course I was 5’10” and 210. We had no chance of winning: our goal was to finish. I stopped dreaming about being the best preacher in the country years ago: that is not going to happen but I can be faithful to the limited gifts God gave me. I have no control over the abilities but I do have a say about my attitude. I want to finish strong.

Well, we had a hot one yesterday. If the virus does not like heat and humidity, it better head north because we had both yesterday. At the risk of offending someone, I want to clear my chest. I think we grossly over reacted to the virus and yet it did not achieve what the liberals wanted to achieve so now they are trying to frighten us with this second wave conversation. Bill King stated yesterday, “No more shut-downs.” Those are my sentiments also. The American people are not idiots as the left assumes. We have enough sense to get in out of the rain, if we want out of the rain. Some of us like rain and we may prefer to stay in it: we don’t need big brother telling us what to do.

I have an idea on the college football situation. Reduce the seating capacity by installing box seats. Bryant Denny would hold 80,000 instead of 101,000. Then put tickets on sale and let whoever wants to come, come. If people want to take the risk, whatever they are, let them. Social distancing is about as silly as these dumb mask. I have a hard time understanding people when they are wearing a mask and I sure can’t understand them when they do. If the virus gets bad enough it will put fright in people and they will stay home but let the people decide. Let the ones who want to wear mask, wear them. Let the one’s who want to stay home, stay home but leave the rest of us alone. Should we do common sense things like stopping flights from China? Sure, our president did the right thing but shutting every thing down does not make sense–unless you are a lib and want another democrat in the White House.

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