Lisa Love worked hard and won a spot on the cheerleading squad during her junior year in high school. About a month later, because of cancer, she had to have her leg amputated above the knee. Over the summer, she was fitted with a prosthesis and worked hard in her physical therapy sessions and learned to maneuver and walk on it quite well. She then sought out and persuaded her cheerleading coach to agree to let her continue as a cheerleader. This the sponsor reluctantly agreed to, with some doubts still remaining.
Lisa worked hard on her routines by herself before school started and joined the other cheerleaders in their first practice. They were preparing for the first pep rally of the fall football season and all went well. Lisa fit right in to all the routines, without a problem.
Then came the first Thursday pep rally. The gym was packed with high school students and faculty. The cheerleading squad began their routines. Lisa started her four step run into a somersault across the slick gym floor and lost her prosthesis, leaving her to stumble on one leg and crash to the floor. She buried her face in her hands, cried, and thought of quitting right there.
Instead, she motioned for one of her friends to retrieve the leg, and helped her strap that prosthesis back on. All of this in front of the bleachers packed with kids! In full sight of them, she then stood straight and tall, and motioned that she was ready. The squad continued their routine and Lisa performed her part to a rousing, enthusiastic, standing ovation.
Success in life has been defined as the ability to get up one more time when you have fallen down. Everybody in life has experienced failure of some kind. The question is what you do after you have fallen down. Do you lay there in your tears, feel sorry for yourself, and ask, “Why has this happened to me?” Or do you get up one more time?
Abut l0 percent of life is composed of the things that happen to you. 90 percent is your reaction to what has happened to you. If you look hard enough, you can always blame somebody else for your problems. Maturity is taking responsibility for yourself and your reactions in life. Plus, there is another resource available. When you stumble or loose a leg, Jesus Christ stands ready to help you reattach what has been lost. All of heaven is ready for your standing ovation. In the end, the only people who fail are those who do not try.
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.”
(Heb.l2:l)
PRAYER
"Lord Jesus, you have called me personally by name, just as you
called your first disciples, Simon, Andrew, and James. Help me to be
a faithful to the gospel and loyal to you. Fill me with the joy of
the gospel and help me to be a good witness of your kingdom to
others."
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