Quitters or Heroes
Good Morning,
I closed my book, Surviving The Tsunami, with a poem and a verse well worth considering. I send it today in my morning moments thinking it might be a help to someone.
Pastor
Dedication
Most books have a dedication at the beginning, but I chose to put the dedication at the end because it will make more sense to someone who read through these pages. This book is dedicated to the God Who divinely allows trials that we might learn and become more like His Dear Son. Through troubled times, we grow stronger. Though broken-hearted and physically weary, and though Jacob limped the rest of his life, what a nation to which he gave birth! Job said it as well:
Job 17:9 “The righteous also shall hold on his way, and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger.”
vs. 10 “But as for you all, do ye return, and come now: for I cannot find one wise man among you."
The ultimate goal of satanic pressure is to get us to quit and to be of no value. The goal of God in pressure is to make us more valuable, like gold. The question is, "How will we respond?"
In a time of trial, I penned these words to close the book.
Quitters or Heroes
I’ve seen some people quit on right.
I’ve seen them walk away.
I’ve seen them quit because of sin
Or because of troubled days.
I’ve seen some quit in weariness
As they walked life’s narrow path,
And some in fear slipped off the way
Because of satanic wrath.
Old Demas left and Titus too,
All twelve, they walked away.
And Paul, he stood alone in court;
But Christ was there that day.
Daniel and his three good friends,
They’re famous in history,
While many a Jewish boy gave in
And lived Babylonian ways.
John Mark, he quit and ran for home
For Paul walked a troubled road.
But John, he grew in grace and returned
So faithful to Paul and God.
’Twas no easy road this couple took
From Nazareth to Bethlehem
To Egypt and back to their home again
As God’s Son became a man.
Jospeh could have quit on God
And lived in moral shame,
Or given up in the prison cell
Forgetting his good name.
King David as a ruddy lad
Stood when he could have run;
But quitters ne’er faced giant men
And brought them to their doom.
I’ve noticed something of heroes.
They cross the finish line.
They may limp or run alone in pain,
But are heroes in their time.
I’ve never seen a quitter
Who won the final prize.
I’ve never seen the tear-filled eyes
Thank quitters for their lives.
I’ve never seen a hero
Who took the easy way,
Who gave up when the trouble came;
They all showed up and stayed.
We remember Doss on Hacksaw Ridge,
The “Unbroken” prisoner too,
And Washington's bullet-ridden cloak
Just to name a few.
A hero, he can limp along
Or use prosthetic limbs.
A hero, he can die afar
On unknown foreign lands.
But no quitter ever drew applause
From those he helped in fear.
No accolades from lives he changed
Caress the quitter’s ear.
Abe Lincoln faced his slander
,
George Müller was falsely accused.
Roger Williams, he was banished
Before freedom’s light was viewed.
Just what do quitters gain in flight?
What good has ever come
From fleeing in the face of threats
Or leaving the fight undone?
I may be weeping while I stand;
By His grace, standing I'll be found.
I may be wounded, slandered, or more;
But to finish my course I’m bound.
Benedict Arnold and Judas,
Some things they two share:
Both turned when things were threatening
The risk they would not bear.
"Don't go into this danger,”
Eyes beautiful and pleading said.
But those words were never hearkened to
By heroes alive or dead.
I’m sorry, my beautiful loved one,
From the fight I shall not run.
There's something different in my blood
For a cause I here have come.
Some may have fled to Canada,
In cowardice left their call
But no Purple Heart or Medal of Honor
Will ever grace their brow.
I'll live a common, regular life
Nothing special I feel I am.
But a quitter I'll ne’er be labeled,
And faithful I shall stand.