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The summer before my freshman year my parents convinced me to participate on our city swim team. For two months, I arrived each morning at 7 am to train in the frigid outdoor Prineville city pool. The greatest challenge I faced was the fact that I actually didn’t know how to swim. I was relegated to the “beginners” group, joining a pack of swimmers much younger than me. After those first practices, before collapsing into a 3-hour nap, I appealed to my parents to quit the team. But through their firm encouragement I was required to stay the course.
I wish I could complete the story with tales of marked improvement and victorious perseverance. Instead, I achieved a long list of event disqualifications (mainly in butterfly and breaststroke) and reprimands from my coach for “walking on the bottom of the pool” instead of swimming. There was even one race where I was lapped by all of my competitors, and my timing judge actually let me finish a lap early. While my lack of physical talent certainly contributed to my failures, my occasional resistance to the training certainly did not help. Failure is a common reality for all human beings. Sometimes, failure is due to our own simple imperfections. Other times, failure is a direct result of our intentional straying from God’s design for character. At times, accountability and even discipline are necessary components to persevere through failure. The writer of Hebrews explains that “no discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it” (12:11). The most sustainable form of discipline is self-discipline. Self-discipline is developed from a heart that has been transformed by Jesus Christ. Our Lord and Savior not only redeemed our souls by His death and resurrection, but He is in the business of constantly redeeming us daily. What a wonderful gift! A gift we can access at any time. Internal discipline drives us to do our best and make things right with the world around us when we occasionally stumble. When I entered High School that fall, I quickly realized that my traditional spot at the back of the pack of the Cross Country team had improved. A summer of swimming had greatly increased my cardiovascular endurance, and I soon found myself leading in many races. While perhaps a trivial illustration, I learned the profound wisdom of how failure and perseverance can provide tremendous growth. I became grateful for the loving correction and wisdom my parents provided for me, as well as the caring accountability my coach constantly taught me. In our second year of providing a CCS swim team, we have 20 students competing this year! As is true in all of our school activities, these athletes will face daily challenges that will test their character. There will be wins and losses, victories and failures. I pray that our coaches and parents will help guide them toward humility, diligence, and perseverance throughout the season. I pray that all of us will continue to do the same in every sphere of influence God has gifted to us. If you want to be a part of the chorus of encouragement, feel free to watch our Eagles speed through the water at one of our Swim Meets. I consider myself an amateur baker by necessity. That is, when I desire some tasty creation, I strap on my figurative apron and get to work. Recently, I was challenged to make the perfect monster cookie. Containing my favorite ingredients of oats, peanut butter, chocolate, and M&M’s, what could go wrong? Despite selecting the best 5-star recipe I could find online, the final product was less than impressive. The texture was off, the presentation was a bit repulsive, and the flavor left me wanting….something else.
Failure is a common malady of humankind. As parents, we often tend to try to shield our children from failure or even, at times, deny it. But without failure, much learning and growth is unavailable for development in so many healthy areas. Check out this short list of failures that were overcome in notable ways. Steve Jobs was fired from Apple in 1985. Colonel Sanders was rejected by over 1,000 restaurants before establishing KFC. Henry Ford's first 2 automotive companies failed. "Star Wars" was rejected by several film studios for being too unconventional and risky. "The Lord of the Rings" was rejected by multiple publishers for being too long and complex. Thomas Edison failed in 1,000 experiments before perfecting the light bulb. Albert Einstein was turned down by many universities and even expelled from his first school. Abraham Lincoln failed in many business ventures and political campaigns over his life. Emily Dickinson did not achieve success as a poet during her lifetime. Amelia Earhart struggled to make a living as a pilot and had to work many odd jobs to support herself. The experts of the day told the Wright brothers that it was impossible to create a flying machine. Michael Jordan was cut from the high school basketball team. Imagine how many significant accomplishments might have been delayed or even never reached had the process of failure been avoided. As disciples of Jesus Christ, our end goal is more than just simple accomplishments (though often present through God’s good plans). We desire to produce “good works that God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10). These good works are a disciple’s response to God’s grace through faith. While redeemed through the saving gospel of Jesus Christ, our human weakness requires us to press into God’s power living inside of us for God to work through our weakness. This weakness sometimes produces failure. However, embracing failure and learning from it develops a greater capacity for good. The qualities of perseverance, humility, collaboration, and a correct identity in Christ are invaluable byproducts of working through failure. As parents, we should encourage healthy risk-taking for our children. We should be quick to encourage their big dreams and quick to appreciate the value of failure. May we not simply dismiss or wrongly rationalize mistakes but capitalize on the growth available for our children. James, the half-brother of Jesus, goes as far as to say that we should rejoice in our trials. He knew the secret of success that comes through adversity. The antidote to failure is to adapt and try again. While I have yet to find success in my monster cookie adventure, through the process of failure, maybe someday I will find myself starring on a baking show, even if it is just as a taste tester! I was convinced I had met my future wife doing a roofing job 300 miles from home. After serving me a bacon cheeseburger at a local restaurant, I began pursuing “Mrs. K.” through a long-distance relationship. Occasionally, we would get to spend time in her hometown. As her parents were avid sailors, that was often my only choice of activity if I wanted to spend time with their daughter.
While I never became an adequate sailor, I discovered plenty of amazing (and confusing) scientific and mechanical realities about sailing. The large keel below the boat is a peculiar and necessary component. Suspended many feet below the bottom of the boat, this large fin provides necessary stability to the wind-powered vessel. Without the keel, sailboats would easily capsize, much less, perform in any satisfactory way. Did you know that the flow of water past the keel produces lift much like an airplane? In fact, rotate an airplane 90 degrees and place it in the ocean and you basically have the same shape as a sailboat. Have you ever wondered how a sailboat can use the wind from just about any direction to reach its destination? While there are many factors at work, one big reason is the keel. Sailboats almost always experience leeway: drifting off course due to the wind’s sideways force. This creates a strange angle that causes the water to rush past the keel to produce horizontal lift. This reactive force not only counteracts the powerful force of the wind against the sails but also helps propel the sailboat forward to its destination. The Fruit of the Spirit is like the keel of a sailboat. God’s presence is attached to our very being. His power is always available in our weakness. While the wind and waves around us may cause turmoil at times, there is no reason to fear. The circumstances in our lives that seem to create imminent disaster can actually activate God’s provision in His Spirit. As faithful followers of Jesus, we find stability amidst chaos, allowing both the good and bad to propel our path to His defined destination. Our community will focus on the fruit of peace during the month of November. Like love, peace is something we receive from God and can share with others. Like joy, the peace of God transcends above all circumstances. And even if you don’t find your feet on the deck of a sailboat soon, let us not forget the powerful keel living inside of us who gives us peace that surpasses all understanding. When I was a senior, I broke my arm during the first basketball contest of the season. Over the next several weeks, I was relegated to a support role in practice and reluctantly became the official stats record keeper during the games. After what felt like an eternity of waiting in the shadows, I was eventually cleared to play. However, I found that my starting point guard position had been replaced by a freshman, and my individual performance was never the same.
During those difficult circumstances, God was guiding me where I found my identity and how to participate in community when I was no longer in the spotlight. Recently, I was reminded of this difficult season when listening to a guest missionary speaker. Reflecting on entering the last years of his ministry, he remarked how he has learned that “he has less to prove and more to offer.” I quickly took note of this comment, wanting to reflect more on God’s design. So often in my life, I have focused too much on proving myself. Whether to impress others or feed my ego, this is a common pitfall many of us may experience. I do understand there may be periodic times when we need to prove something to ourselves. God has indeed prepared good works for us to walk in daily through His unearned grace. He equips those He calls, and through both failure and success we can affirm His design on our life. As we mature as believers, these proving grounds should become less frequent as our trust in God’s provision increases. Many of us struggle or misunderstand Jesus’ command to “turn the other cheek.” Turning the other cheek comes from a position of strength, not weakness. When there is nothing left to prove, all that remains is what we have to offer with eagerness. While offering the other cheek can literally be uncomfortable at times, it’s often how the gospel becomes alive in us for others to see. Jesus not only taught this principle, He lived it! Jesus had nothing to prove…only His life to offer. In the same way, as redeemed and adopted children of God, we have little to prove. We know that we are broken, but redeemed, “always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.” Since Jesus has already proved it all to the entire world, we simply get to offer His life through ours to others! |
Adam Kronberger
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