|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
[Today’s Interruption is an excerpt from Howard’s diary. I will be sharing passages from his diary throughout 2023 and perhaps in 2024.
I’m thankful to Howard for sharing his diary with me. I see myself in his stories, and maybe all of us can learn from him.
I know some will ask if Howard is a fictional person, and my answer is … ??!]
January 30, 2018
For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world – our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? (1 John 5:4-5)
When speaking of my childhood, I often repeat the opening refrain of the original Star Wars movie …
A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away …
It’s been that long since the following story.
I was talking to a coach and told him that I didn’t think that I could win a cross-country race in which I was entered to participate. He told me, “You don’t have to win. It’s fine if you don’t, but you should want to win.”
I’ve thought about this for decades. Every time that I confront difficulty or my own inability, I think that I should want victory. I don’t have to win. I may not win. But why focus on defeat before trying?
Yesterday, I saw a bumper sticker on a car in front of me at a stoplight. It read, “It’s your fault!”
I was irritated because it wasn’t my fault. Then I realized one of the reasons that I have been defeated is that I blame others. If I’m stuck and not accomplishing my goals, and it’s your fault, then there is nothing that I can do … you determine my future.
I think there is a plague of fault-finding today. We too quickly rationalize our problems as the result of the actions of others. If we want victory, and if someone else is to blame for our loss, then it’s impossible to improve, learn, grow, and achieve victory.
I think I’m going to get a bumper that reads, “It’s my fault!”
Realizing my inadequacies should be my attitude toward victory.
I once heard another coach say, “Visualize your victory.” I tried, but I’m just too weak and inadequate – a positive attitude only takes me so far. I can’t depend on myself, and others will fail me too.
I find victory in Jesus!
[That’s the first page of Howard’s diary. I appreciate Howard’s honesty. If you didn’t like reading about Howard’s faith in today’s Interruption … it’s your fault!]