Dealing with Failure

Greetings in the Name of Jesus Christ,

The Major League Baseball playoffs started this week. In case you haven’t noticed, I am a big baseball fan. My stepfather was an avid fan who taught me and my son some of the subtle aspects of the game. I will never forget the day he taught my son to hit a ball when he was just 3 years old! From that moment, my son was hooked on the game. Maybe you are, too.

The game is full of statistics and records that have been kept and followed for decades. Every player has a record of almost everything they have done. 

You might be surprised at some of the crazy records professional baseball keeps. For example, it was once said that Gaylord Perry (one-time pitcher for the Texas Rangers) was one of the worst hitters in professional baseball. Fortunately for Gaylord, pitchers are not expected to be good hitters. In the 1960’s, just after Perry was promoted to the major leagues, a manager said, “A man will walk on the moon before Gaylord hits a homerun.” Ironically, twenty minutes after Neil Armstrong took his first walk on the moon, Gaylord Perry hit his first home run.

Another irony is the list of names baseball keeps on career strikeouts. You may remember some of these players from the past. Believe me, they were some of the greatest hitters in baseball. Reggie Jackson, Willie Stargell, Jose Canseco, Tony Perez, Mickey Mantle, Sammy Sosa, Willie Mays, and Babe Ruth are all at the top of the strikeout list.

Can you believe it? Reggie Jackson, Mickey Mantle, and Willie Mays combined to strike out almost 6,000 times in their careers. And yet, each left a legacy of greatness and is a member of Baseball’s Hall of Fame. 

They never gave up. They kept stepping up to the plate. Maybe that’s why I love baseball so much – it’s a very difficult game to master and teaches us much about life. One of my coaches once told me that baseball is about managing your failures and building on your successes. A player who gets a hit one out of three times at the plate is an all-star.

So often in life, that’s our challenge. How do we deal with our failures? Do we give up at the first sign of challenge? As human beings, we are going to make mistakes. We are going to fail at one time or another. The real question for us is – how are we going to react? 

As followers of Jesus Christ, we are partners with the Creator of the universe. God is our shield, our help, our aid, our savior, and redeemer. Paul says, "Nothing shall separate us from the love of Christ." For me, there is no way that I can stay down. I am compelled to get up no matter how many times I fall. In Christ, we always have a future! No one can take that away from us unless we decide to quit, for God through Jesus Christ will never give up on us. 

In the book of Proverbs, we find these words: "Though a righteous man falls seven times, he rises again, but the wicked are brought down by calamity." (Proverbs 24:16)

Failure does not always mean defeat. For those who live in Christ, failure is just another step toward victory. Keep stepping up to the plate. Never give up. We are not alone. Thanks be to God for the victory in Jesus Christ. 

This Sunday we continue our series, Believe It or Not! by focusing on what we believe about the Holy Spirit. 

See you Sunday!

Pastor John Allen