The Back Door to Success I have received many graduation announcements in the past week – and am presently looking at one. A young man from our church, he will graduate from a local high school this weekend. I know he will hear speeches on citizenship, goal-setting, following your dreams –that sort of thing. I want to address a topic that is usually avoided at graduation ceremonies: failure. Of course it seems ironic to address this issue at a time of academic success, but it is an inevitable part of life. It happens to us all – and it is important to remember that failure does not have to be fatal. Failure is the back door to success. There is no such thing as success without first experiencing failure. Failure is “paying your dues” so that we learn the value of success. Unfortunately, many people become so obsessed with the fear of failure that they forget to live and they never take a risk. Every successful person paid his dues with failure of some kind. Winston Churchill had a speech impediment. This caused him to be unresponsive in school and a mediocre student. But he found history and politics fascinating and determined as a boy to overcome his speech difficulty so that he might enter politics. He began to write out his thoughts and recite them with deliberation. History regards him as one of the greatest orators of all time. Churchill, and others like him, is what we call a “strong person.” But what is a strong person, after all? Everyone has a handicap of some sort and everyone makes mistakes. Strong people know this. They admit their mistakes, even laugh at them. But most important of all, they learn from their mistakes and do not repeat them. That is what makes them strong. They understand what President Theodore Roosevelt said, “The only man who never makes a mistake is the man who never does anything.” You don’t really want to be a person who never does anything, do you? I passed the Akron, Ohio home of Thomas A. Edison recently. I recall the episode where someone challenged Edison by reminding him that he failed thousands of times while experimenting with the incandescent light (the light bulb). I think the challenge was “You failed 10,000 times before succeeding.” “No, I didn’t fail,” replied Edison. “I discovered 10,000 ways not to make the incandescent light.” Failure was no stranger to Thomas Edison. But he learned from each failed experiment. He refused to accept each of these experiments as a permanent defeat. Consequently, each failed experiment became the path for success. Doing nothing is the epitome of failure. We were put on this earth to do something. That something was very eloquently put by Jesus: “Love God with all your heart and love others as yourself.” So my advice to graduates is very simple. Live, as best you can, to the standards set by Jesus. Give your best effort at all times, but expect failure in your efforts from time to time, because that is what life will occasionally bring. Learn from your failures. Do not repeat them. And always remember: failure is… the back door to success.

Put Satan on the Run I was with my friend Fred yesterday. Fred is a sixty years old, never married bachelor. He likes to remind his boyhood friends that he is King of his house. His claim is, of course, undisputed – especially since his parents’ death. He had lived with them and cared for them as they aged. Then, within two months, they were both gone. The first to go was Fred’s mom, who died of lung cancer. Seven weeks later, his dad died suddenly while fishing, alone, on the banks of a lake. His dad just died – no pain or lingering at all. “Dad died of a broken heart,” Fred explained to us at the calling hours. I think Fred is right on that one, as his parents had been inseparable for over fifty years. But really, Fred had been the King in that household before his parents’ passing. Fred was an only child, and he ruled the roost from the day he entered this world. From about eighth grade, when we studied world history, Fred had been called by his buddies “Frederick the Great.” Today, Frederick the Great’s kingdom consists of an old, but very nicely kept three story house – the kind with an attic, in an area of older homes. The house sits on a half-acre lot with large oak trees; King Frederick also rules over a stray tiger cat with stripes called “Sergeant”, a parakeet and two dogs rescued from the pound. One dog is a female, half Mastiff. Whatever the other half is, it’s big also. She weighs about, I don’t know, half a ton I suppose. However much a baby elephant weighs, that’s what she weighs. Her name is “Fifi”, and I am not kidding you. The other dog is a male, mostly Beagle. It always has its tongue out and its tail wagging. It wags its tail about ninety miles per hour, non-stop. Its name is “Bobo.” Both dogs are super friendly and vie for your attention whenever you visit. It isn’t too bad until Fifi licks your face – which she always does when you lean down to pet on Bobo. The parakeet has a name, too: “Cracker”. “Cracker and I were talking last night,” began Fred. “I’ll bet you and Cracker have some interesting conversations together,” I replied. “You need to get out some and meet other single adults your age.” Fred’s response was, “There aren’t that many. Anyway, Cracker and I were discussing the news and it hit me.” “What hit you? Was Cracker flying overhead while talking to you?” I joked. It was pathetically lame and got no response. That’s when I realized Frederick the Great was being serious. “No, no – it hit me that I am an anemic Christian.” “Wait, Fred,” I cautioned. “What do you mean by anemic anyway?” Fred said, “I mean here I am, a person who claims to know Jesus as his Lord, and I am doing almost nothing for His Cause. Cracker was on my shoulder and we were watching the news on TV. The report was on the war and it showed a battle scene and a bombed out village where people had been hurt. Some may have even died. And it hit me: war is very, very serious. And we, as Christians, are in a war. Think, Joel, of all the war metaphors used in the New Testament: ‘put on the armor of God’, use ‘the sword of the Spirit’ and ‘the shield of faith’. But the one that really hit me was where Jesus said His followers are to storm the gates of Hell. You know, “the gates of Hell will not stand against us.” That means I am supposed to be doing something that threatens the devil.” “And then it seemed like Cracker asked me a question, but it was probably the Holy Spirit. Anyway, Cracker asked me, “What have you done lately Fred to put Satan on the run?” And I had to say, it has been a couple of years. Going to church is good, but not enough. So I began rattling off a list of things I could be doing to put Satan on the run and by gosh, I intend to do something. Because you know, Joel, we are in spiritual warfare, and war is serious. So what do you think I should do?” “Fred,” I began, “take the initiative. Go speak to your pastor – I know him and he will be thrilled that you want to put Satan on the run. Get involved in a Bible study, or even start one. That way your further decisions will have a strong spiritual foundation. But most of all pray, because prayer invites God into your life and situation.” I left Frederick the Great and his kingdom with a good feeling. The feeling that when Christians begin to stir, the church… puts Satan on the run!