Spending a few days in Ocean City, New Jersey with family. Enjoying the ocean breeze and a beautiful view, surrounded by my three precious kids and a loving wife.
I’ve been reading Tim Kelly’s book, The Legend of Red Klotz. Klotz was the player-coach of the Washington Generals, a team that played the Harlem Globetrotters in most of their shows. The Generals lost over 14,000 games. They only won once, when Klotz hit a game winning jumper.
Klotz stated: “ What is losing? Losing is a part of life. You can’t lose if you are striving to do your best. They keep score of the game to determine which team scores the most points. They call the team with the most points the winner and the team with fewer points the loser. But if you tried your best and didn’t score the most points, you still won. Only one team wins the NBA championship. Only one team wins the Super Bowl. You mean to tell me every other team is not successful, just because they didn’t win the championship? It just doesn’t work that way. What matters is getting up. If you lose a game you can get up and try again the next time. That’s a win right there. You learn that lesson and you learn a lot about life. If you can regroup after a loss and keep going, you’re going to be okay.”
Klotz’s statement reminds me of the Christian life. So often the world measures success by money, power, etc. But following Christ involves learning how to deal with disappointment, unrealized expectations, and many other things. And through such experiences, character is built.
The Apostle Paul wrote: in 2 Corinthians 4:7-11: “But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.”
So maybe “losing” in the world’s eyes is not really losing it all. It’s just learning, knowing that God is at work, as we follow Jesus Christ.
Central to Life 