Failures and Triumphs: They are all a part of life.

I have not done so well on my commitment to blog three times a week. Sure there are always valid reasons. There has been a great deal of work for me lately and I have been putting in longer hours than I should, but still these are excuses.

I have learned that life is full of successes and failures. They will come for us all however, what we do with them is what matters.

For instance I could give up. I blogged three times the first week of my commitment and now I have gone two full weeks without touching my blog. So I could say, "The commitment was wrong I underestimated how much was going on in ministry and life and I shouldn't make commitments to blog when there are so many more tangible ministries I am in." Then I could allow my failure to cause me to give up on the commitment I made.

Or, I could stay the course. Even though I have missed my goal and I am seemingly behind, I could pick up where I left off and keep on going.

It's like being in a race and being behind but still doing your best to finish. A few weeks back I was watching the winter Olympics and the cross country skiing was on. They were showing the finish of the race and talking about the dramatic battle for the gold. The discussion continued long after the medals had been decided. As we continued to watch the goal line stretch a racer came around the corner and with a dramatic burst of adrenaline he pushed hard to overtake the racer in front of him. He battled down the stretch to edge him out of 32cd place.

As he collapsed from exhaustion I laughed and thought, "32cd place or 33rd place, does it really matter." But now I realize it does. It was his personal best that counted, his time to shine, his defining moment.

In life we aren't always in a race but Paul says we should always be racing, striving for the prize.  The only competition is against yourself, it doesn't matter if you fall behind as long as you keep going and finish strong.

So if you experience failure remember when I am weak, then I am strong, and keep on running.