Christian Living

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Larry Lilly's Letter Wednesday April 19, 2006

I recall an old axiom from my boyhood days given out regularly by a disabled WW1 vet who hit the hooch more than he should have, but due to limited funds, not as much as he would've if he could've.

Old Fritz use to tell us gathered urchins some of the greater secrets of surviving on disability and cheap wine. I don't know that any of us ever needed the information, thankfully. One of his gems has stood me well over the years:

"Wisdom is where you find it."

I have discovered the truth that you really do find usable wisdom in unlikely places and certainly from unlikely people. A famous or infamous man, depending on how you look at him, perhaps both, made a statement that is irrefutable and should help anyone who has attempted something grand and fell flat on his/her face. Think about this:

"A man is not finished when he is defeated. His IS finished when he quits."

For many the author of this statement became a zero, to others a hero, when through stupidity he was defeated, he took his medicine and actually accomplished more in life for the benefit of our country than before his defeat. To list his gigantic achievements after his fall would take many articles and to do so probably would not change anyone’s mind about him. The purpose of this letter is not to change your mind about the author, but to make my point, "Wisdom is where you find it."

The refusal to quit has been the mark of hero’s since the beginning of time. It is Godlike to refuse to give up. If God ever quits on the human race, it will be all over at that point, so much so that the flood of Noah’s day will seem as a Sunday School swimming party by comparison.

In this life you may be involved in pursuing a dream that is noble in every sense of the word, but you need to be aware that the price of failure, of defeat in many things is very high, far higher than the 'agony of defeat' in any athletic endeavor. In a big business deal to be defeated can lead to accusations of betrayal by life long friends, an attempt to do something on a grander than usual scale in church work that suffers defeat can lead to a storm sewer of ridicule. Just ask the pastor who had a building program in process go South.

Today I quote a man who had much of the world at his feet currying favor. He and a few associates according to one, 'attempted to steal the United States of America!' A lofty goal no doubt. Had they succeeded they would appear much differently in the history books, probably listed as modern messiahs. They were defeated and the leader took the brunt of the ridicule following the defeat.

For the most part the Watergate Conspirators took their bitter pills, accepted defeat with grace, but did not quit on life and went on to make some sort of major contribution to our way of life.

While each demonstrated by his after Watergate life the value of getting up when you fall, none did it with more élan that did the author of today's quote, President Richard Milhouse Nixon. Think about it and trust Christ to keep you going, when make a fool of yourself for awhile.

Larry Lilly Copyright© 2006 Use with credit.

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