July 23, 2021 – Click here to listen
Not so long ago I met with a friend who the last time I saw him was sitting on top of the world, but when I met with him, he looked sad, haggard and defeated. He told me he’d been going through dark trials and tribulation in his life and everywhere he turned he was getting pounded.
Wow! What a difference I saw in him. His story was indeed heartbreaking and most every area of his life was adversely affected. I really felt sorry for him.
Yesterday I included a quote in Words for the Day by Franklin Roosevelt, “When you reach the end of your rope, tie a knot in it and hang on.” So, a reader wrote that he believed “When you reach the end of your rope you should just let go and let God”. I for one am not a believer in that kind of thinking. My life verse is Phil. 4:13 – “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” It states “I” can do. To me this is a clear directive from God that part of the equation belongs to us. We cannot just give up and quit life because things get tough. Christ gives us strength through faith and we work it out through discipline.
So what if your parents weren’t perfect.
So what if your spouse left you for someone else.
So what if your friend’ lied about you.
So what if you did not make the football team or cheer-leading squad.
Brooding about it will only accomplish the negative and no positive will be forthcoming; it can poison the rest of your life providing you allow it to do so. Move on.
I came across a poem that I wrote many years ago when I was facing the worst business dilemma one might imagine. Several employees had embezzled huge sums of money from our warehouse and distribution company and we were on the verge of bankruptcy. My company had just been reduced in size from 69 employees to 19 in three days and our offices and warehouses were virtually empty compared to their former glory. My “friends” and business acquaintances had gone with the wind, (and money), and I felt alone and betrayed. The thieves had cleaned out our bank account and stolen most of our inventory. After the dust had settled, I was $289K “overdrawn” at the bank, my inventory was decimated, and I owed nearly one million dollars. I could not see how I could recover. I was getting calls from sunup to sundown every day of people threatening to sue me. My banker, attorney, and CPA all told me to just take bankruptcy and get it over with.
I was melancholy and wrote the following:
Ode to the Entrepreneur
The clatter of an empty warehouse rings its doomful sound;
Dark and damp, baleful now with closed doors and broken windows.
Everywhere I look I see dreams unfulfilled!
Hard work is over, and so it is.
Where are the well-wishers, the friends, the admirers now?
Wheredid they all get off to?
Failure, the American dream will haunt you.
Heartbreaking is the crux of failure’s sting.
One must recover from such stings and fight back to the top.
I found the last line interesting that even back then I was determined not to quit; something I have held near and dear to my heart my entire career. Miraculously we did recover from this and avoided bankruptcy and not a single vendor ever sued us. We repaid every dime we owed and built healthy cash reserves. In fact, I learned more about running a business during that period than at any other. We had so many serious problems that it was a daily struggle just to survive and I had to be at the top of my game every single day. There was no time for feeling sorry for myself then I tell you. It took seven long years to recover, but recover we did and in fact grew the business into something far better than it had ever been.
As I looked through my folder of papers from that era, I came across a little poem that I edited and then posted in my office that was my mantra for the seven long years during the recovery.
Don’t Quit
When things go wrong as they sometimes will,
When the road you are trudging seems all uphill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high,
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit –
Rest if you must, but don’t you quit.
When you are worried and full of doubt,
Just remember that
Success is failure turned inside out –
So stick to the fight when you are hardest hit –
It’s when things seem worst that you
Mustn’t quit.
I have had many tough problems to face in my life. Indeed, it is a miracle that I even survived. Sometimes it is tough to smile. Through it all we get tired and discouraged. People let us down, jobs let us down, and we let ourselves down. Sometimes we are just tempted to quit. Quit on a friendship, a family member, a job, ourselves, our God, even life itself, whatever. Just remember, rest if you must but don’t you quit. Better times are always right over the next hill; quitters will never get there. Winners take the good with the bad and the ugly.
God did not create us to be whiners and self-pity professionals; ask for His help in focusing on today and tomorrow and bury the past along with the rest of the dead.
Phil. 4:5
The Lord is near, Do not be anxious
about anything, but in everything by
prayer and petition, with thanksgiving,
present your requests to God. And the peace
of God, which transcends all understanding,
will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Have a great weekend and go to church this Sunday!