If you missed the 2nd Sunday service with Jamie Vrinios yesterday at Honey Lake Church, you missed a good one. Hers was an incredible story of tenacious determination to find God’s calling for her life. After trying several career options, she finally found her niche and then worked very hard to succeed. In spite of many tough obstacles and very humble beginnings, today she has over 1000 people on her team and is a top performer in Mary Kay.
Many people think that successful people owe it more to luck and good fortune than anything else. Of course nothing could be further from the truth. When I hear someone tell me how lucky I am, I respond, “Oh yes and the harder I work, the luckier I get”.
Thomas Edison was an inventor who held 2332 patents. He stated: “Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration.” I’ve been to his summer home in Fort Meyers and in his workshop he had a cot that he used for taking catnaps. He only slept a few hours a night and would use the cot to occasionally take 15 minute naps during his very long days. He worked far into the night and his perseverance to keep working until he found a solution is legendary.
One thing that struck me was the vast number of failed experiments that he conducted. We all hear about his marvelous successes, but each success only came after hundreds and in some cases thousands of failed experiments. Although many perceived these various unsuccessful experiments as failure, Edison looked upon them as mere stepping stones towards finding his success. His hard work and refusal to quit in spite of hundreds of unsuccessful attempts ultimately changed the world for the better with inventions that we use every day such as the light bulb.
I read somewhere that Colonel Sanders, founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken, tried to retire with nothing but social security. He didn’t like the fact that he had nothing and could barely support himself as he entered into his “golden years”.
He decided to go into business at age 65, but aside from a recipe for finger licking good fried chicken he had no funding. So he went to 999 lenders in an attempt to get a loan to start a restaurant, but they all turned him down flat. On his 1000th attempt he finally got a yes and the rest is history.
So was this luck? Not hardly. I always hated being turned down by bankers who had their rules and formulas and were stone deaf to anything else, (especially good ideas). I would rather have robbed a bank than go to 1000 of those rascals with my hat in my hand. Colonel Sanders remained persistent and took each “no” as being that much closer to a “yes”.
The Bible tells us in 1st Corinthians 9:24: Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. The body of Christ is running a race and we are competing with a satanic horde that follows no rules. We must remain steadfast and tenaciously run our race enduring cheating, dirty tricks, and fierce attacks along the way. Nonetheless with the assistance of our Lord and Savior we can and will change the world for the better, provided we find God’s purpose for our lives, work hard, persevere through the trials and tribulations, and maintain a positive attitude. In other words we must have faith in God, we need prayer throughout every day of our lives, and we need to listen to God via His Holy Word the Bible.
So that is how to win the race. Imagine saying the following when you come face to face with almighty God.
2 Tim 4:7
I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
August 10, 2015 – Click here to listen