Getting Up One More Time

Success is getting up one more time. If anybody understood that it was Paul. He was left for dead, imprisoned, beaten, shipwrecked, and much more, yet he kept getting back up. Failure only succeeds when you refuse to rebound from it. You got to get up when you fall because if you don't you'll get trampled on. Losers become losers because they constantly give up trying after one failure.

The Cleveland Browns are a prime example. I don't want to upset any of you CB fans, but how many quarterbacks have you had since your reinvention? How many coaches and general managers? I know you're tired of hearing maybe this year will be different and it never is. Your team will never succeed with its inconsistent behavior, which is all your're known for, and that's why you can never seem to find success.

Everybody loves an underdog. It's the people that get knocked down and keep on trying until they get it right that will end up successful. Sometimes the fall hurts so bad you can't stand it, but when the pinnacle is reached it's so much sweeter. Thank God for the pastors, ministries, and churches that refused to give up. Thank God for the inventors and statesmen that failed but kept on trying. It's not how many times you get knocked down that makes or breaks a situation-it's how many times you're willing to get up and try again.

We tend to equate ministers and ministries with invulnerability. In other words, they cannot fall or fail, and if they do they are scarred for life. That is why so many ministers have given up their ministry because they feel unworthy or helpless in their situation. If they give up somebody thinks they did something wrong or they can't handle some problem personally or church wise. If they stay in and fail, they can't deal with the speculation of their failure by their peers. It's a no-win situation as far as they're concerned.

So I challenge every person who reads this that's in ministry or facing challenges in every day life-if you get knocked down, get up. Don't worry about what people say or do, give yourself a second chance. You don't have to answer to God for others, just yourself. If you want to hear Him say, "Well done," don't stay down. What caused you to fail the last time will become the motivation to succeed the next.