Stubborn Is Not Always A Bad Thing
Right before another fall!
Last weekend we were at the lake camping. Some friends of ours that live out by the lake brought their boat out. Our kids had tubed before, but they had never done much else on the water. That day they learned how to knee board. Then it was mine and Kristin’s turn. We caught on to that pretty fast and had a blast doing it. Then our friend’s son showed up with his wakeboard. This was a goal of mine to learn when I was in my early twenties. I had some friends that I used to go to the lake with that wakeboarded a lot. Two different summers I was going to learn to wakeboard, but had arm surgeries due to baseball instead. So that goal just fizzled out. I began to get older and life went on and I never attempted it after I recovered from my surgeries, until last weekend.
I watched their son get up on the wakeboard the first try and he made it look as easy as standing up from a chair. Then it became my turn. I thought that surely I could figure this out. He made it look so easy. I knew it wouldn’t be that easy, but I would figure it out. Well, the first issue was that I didn’t take into account the 22 years of age difference in the two of us. I also didn’t consider the fact that I had never even been on water skis before. I had done my share of tubing, skiing, and snowboarding, but not wakeboarding or water skiing. Nonetheless, I still feel young so I decided to give something new a try at 40.
Try is the key word here. I tried. And tried. And tried. I would say somewhere around 20-25 times. I got up a couple of times. Once I went for just a little bit before falling. I just never could stay up and go for a long time like I had envisioned. After awhile, my competitiveness kicked in and I was determined to conquer this board. They were trying to help me by giving me advice each time I would fall. I would focus on what they told me, but mess something else up the next time. Then I would correct that mistake, but do something else wrong that made me fall the next time. It was frustrating, but I kept trying until it was time for me to take my son to baseball practice.
I got to thinking later on in the week about that experience. I was partly thinking about it because I was limping around like I needed knee replacement (maybe I do, I don’t know). I hurt my left knee a few years ago reffing a basketball camp and never have done anything about it. It is fine with normal activity, but with anything with unusual movement or impact, it gets sore and swells up pretty good. I guess the best thing to do is not to try and learn at 40 what most due as a teenager, or earlier. They did point out to me while I was in the water waiting on the boat to come back and get me after another fall, that a kid about 8 years old flew by us having no issues on a wakeboard.
The other reason I was thinking about the whole scenario was how it compared to life. I was so determined to conquer something new. I was determined to correct my mistakes and get better each time. When I would correct one thing, I would lose focus on something else and that would cause me to stumble. I kept getting knocked down, but I kept getting right back up and trying again. I was not going to let failure stop me from continuing to push forward and try to get better. I even ended up with physical ailment that reminded me of what I had attempted and that I unfortunately failed at it. But, I can also say that when I have another opportunity, I am going to try it again because I am determined to overcome something I haven’t been able to at this point.
That took me to this thought about life. Is my Christian life this way? Do I get knocked down and get up this many times and try again? Do I have the same determination to overcome sin as I did when wakeboarding? We all have things in our lives that can cause us to stumble. We may all have different obstacles personally, but the concept is the same. Things cause us to stumble and it is up to us how we handle that obstacle. Do we stay down, or do we tell the boat captain to pull us up again?
So many times in our lives we focus on changing or improving in one area, only to struggle in another area. Do we realize our mistakes and work hard to correct them and let another part of our lives suffer because of our focus on our other weakness?
I never got to where I wanted to on the wakeboard. But, that will not stop me from trying. I ended up with a sore and swollen knee, but that won’t stop me from trying again. Sometimes in life we have emotional, or maybe even physical, reminders of things we have done or things that have happened in the past that remind us of hard times or failures. Do we let those things stop us, or do we let them motivate us to be more determined than ever to overcome our weaknesses or struggles?
Some might say that at my age and with a bum knee that they would call it a short and unsuccessful career on the wakeboard. That would probably be the smart thing to do, but I’m too stubborn for that. I will overcome the obstacle at some point. Some in life will tell us that the Christian life is too hard. They will ask us why we don’t do some of things the world does. Why don’t we just give up missing out on all the sins of the world and lighten up? It’s a lot easier to just do what we want and what feels good. That’s what some will try and convince us of.
We have to be what I call good stubborn. We have to be determined to defeat our weaknesses. We have to be good stubborn and not let satan win. I have been called stubborn a time or two in my life. The people that have said that about or to me are absolutely right. I don’t deny that at all. Sometimes that can be a bad thing, depending on what it is about. That is a topic for another day. But, being stubborn can also be a good thing. Not giving in and letting someone or something have what they want, if it is not right, is not a bad thing. Being stubborn and not giving in to the things of this world and satan is a good thing. So, just like being a 40 year old beginning wakeboarder with a bad knee, don’t give in. Be good stubborn and every time we get knocked down, get right back up and try again! Have the same determination in our Christian walk that we have in other things in life. Just like when I finally accomplish my wakeboarding goal, there will be nothing sweeter and more satisfying in our Christian life than knowing that we got up every time we got knocked down and finished standing up!
Standard Alignment
I had the privilege of doing another video for Crossing Home. This is a great ministry that reaches a lot of people weekly. This has been on my heart lately and felt honored to get to share this through this ministry! Have a great week and God bless!!!