Winning and Losing

I have played tennis for the last 41 years of my life. It is my passion and great joy.
Yesterday I was playing against one of the top 18 year olds in the state of Iowa.
As we played I found myself getting all revved up inside because I was losing so many points. Brandon was just blitzing shots past me right and left. I couldn't even get a racquet of a lot of his shots.
We got done playing and we walked over to the sideline to collect our things and get a drink of water.
With not much breath I sputtered out, "Thanks for playing Brandon."
His response made me laugh inside.
Looking as fresh as he could be after an hour of playing, he looked right at me, raised his water bottle just short of his lips and said, "Yeah, sure, no problem." He then proceeded to drink his water and then unceremoniously checked his phone for messages as he slowly, deliberately, without a drop of sweat on his body walked off the court.
I was still sweating an hour later!!

My iWitness...

When was the first time you ever lost at something?
Do you remember the first time you experienced failure?
Do you remember what it first felt like when you began to realize that you could fail...that failure really was an option?

I'll never forget sitting in the dugout crying after a Little League baseball game. For the second game in a row in a doubleheader I was the last batter up with the bases loaded, two outs and our team down by one run. Two times in a row I struck out, ending the game on the losing end of the stick.

I was devastated. Embarrassed. Humiliated.

What does it mean as a Christian to fail? To lose?
We are told in scripture to run, to fight the good fight, to run the race so as to win the prize, to not let your guard down, to put on the full armor in order to stand in the battles of life and to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus who is our ultimate prize awaiting us at the finish line of life.

But what happens to those of us who have lost the innocence of life and we know that we will fail, we will lose, we will stumble, we will fall, we will get shot down, we will get thrown under the bus, we will run out of steam, we will trip and fall flat on our spiritual faces?

What happens then?

Let me offer this....

Our failings are not futile...
Our falling down is not fatal...
Our defeats are not final!

Our value, our life and our eternity does not rest on whether we win or lose.
That's hard to understand, comprehend and actually believe!
But this is the truth...

Our value, our life and our eternity rests on the One who won the race.
Let us not forget what He looked like when He "crossed" the finish line.
It was no easy race...
Our life is no easy race either.

Run the race today and whether you win or lose, succeed or fail... the hands and arms of Jesus are open wide to accept us just as we are and not as we should be, because we are never going to be as we should be...

The Race, the Game, the Competition has been won...
And maybe today when we look at Jesus and say, "Thank you!"
Just maybe, just maybe His response will be to look right into the eyes of our heart and say,
"Yeah, sure, no problem..."

And that's my iWitness...
Laugh often and Fear not!
David!

Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
    the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
    his understanding is unsearchable.
²⁹ He gives power to the faint,
    and to him who has no might he increases strength.
³⁰ Even youths shall faint and be weary,
    and young men shall fall exhausted;
³¹ but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
    they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;    they shall walk and not faint."
(Isaiah 40. 28-31)