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STARTED TOWARD A GREAT TOMORROW
He was one of the greatest soldiers of his time. He lived at a time when his country needed great soldiers! Yet his past so discouraged him that he almost never became the leader that his country needed.
Hiram was born to a father who was harsh and cold and would always see him as a failure. His mother was not a source of emotional comfort to him either; he never once saw her moved enough to shed a tear. Hiram was always small for his age. He grew up ashamed he was not the kind of leader his father expected him to be.
At age 17, he was pushed by his father into the U.S. Military Academy. Hiram was now 5'1" and 120 pounds. He feared failing. He hated the school, but he dared not buck his father's decision. In fact, when the academy listed his name wrong, the young man was too timid even to get the error corrected. He went through the rest of his life under a partly erroneous name.
In time, Hiram settled into the school and did acceptably– graduating just below the middle of his class. When he returned home, though, his neighbors mocked him in his new uniform, and the old humiliation returned. The boy was so deeply wounded emotionally that he would forever feel self-conscious in uniform. Later, as a 3-star general, he would prefer to wear a simple private's shirt with 3 stars sewn on it.
After marrying and attaining the rank of Captain, he dropped out of the military. He tried various ventures in civilian life until the Civil War broke out. He then tried to re-enlist as an officer. He found it hard even to get an interview with someone who could appoint him to a position.
Only a few good strokes of fortune ever made it possible for Hiram to show what kind of a military leader he really was. But he truly was a leader! For the young man who lived with a sense of inadequacy, who never had any great physical stature, and who almost couldn't make it in a career was named Hiram Ulysses Grant. We remember him as Ulysses S. Grant, leader of the victorious Northern Army and later President of the United States. (1)
Yogi Berra was right, "It ain't over till its over." There are far too many people who live as failures, as rejects, as disappointments to themselves, to their families, and, perhaps, to God. And it need not be that way. It is never too late to make a new beginning. There is power and potential and promise within each of us waiting to be unleashed. Indeed, God's plan is that we be more and do more than any of us can ever imagine.
Consider that man whose writings and witness have touched more lives for God than any other except Christ himself. St. Paul was a persecutor of the church. He was there when Stephen became the first Christian martyr. Indeed, he was part of the lynch party. He even held Stephen's cloak as Stephen was pounded into unconsciousness and then death. But a change took place in the Apostle Paul's life. He became a dynamo for Christ. If anybody can give us advice on what we can do to achieve a new, vibrant, victorious life it is he. Listen to his words: "...but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." If you wanted to write out a prescription for victorious living in just a few words, it would be difficult to improve on these words of St. Paul. There are three words that I would use to help us remember his exciting challenge--focus, forget, and forge.
ST. PAUL'S LIFE HAD A FOCUS.
"...but this ONE thing I do..." St. Paul writes. Most of us make the mistake of trying to do too many things. We are like that fabled cowboy who jumped on his horse and rode off in all directions. St. Paul's life was focused. His focus was "the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus."
Everything he did in life was aimed in that direction. That was how he had such impact upon his own time and upon ours. In every walk of life successful people are focused people. They know what it is they want. They know where they are headed. Nothing deters them. All their thoughts and energies are aimed in the direction of their dreams.
If you want a workable definition of sin, it would be anything that distorts our focus, that causes us to stray from God's goal for our lives, that saps our energy, that demeans our reputation, that trivializes our purpose.
So many people miss the mark at just this point. I was amused to read an article last Spring about a 42-year-old Ohio secretary who found herself running a marathon. She thought she had entered a much shorter race. The two races were to begin minutes apart, and when the woman saw a crowd of runners all lined up to go, she simply hurried to join them.
She finished the marathon, but her tears and swollen knees will remind her to do more checking before she sets out the next time to run a race.
Lots of people are in a race, but it's the wrong one. They find themselves tired and frustrated and angry and depressed and they don't know why. It's because they have not focused on something worthy of their ambitions. Jesus provides us with the mark upon which we are to focus, "Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness..." In other words, focus in on that which you believe God would have you be and do and let nothing detract or deter you.
It is amazing how life works when we are focused. One day not too long ago, Dr. Peter Boasberg, a doctor in California, sat down to lunch with some of his colleagues. Another physician spent much of their lunch time talking about a new experimental drug for sepsis--a spreading of poison from a bacterial infection throughout the body. The talk had been interesting but not immediately relevant. Later that day, however, one of Dr. Boasberg's cancer patients began to go downhill fast. His problem--Gram-negative sepsis. Dr. Boasberg remembered the lunchtime conversation and telephoned his friend. With some hurried approval by the FDA, the failing patient was allowed to try the drug. She recovered from her infection.
Suppose Dr. Boasberg had his mind on something else at the time--the stock market or his golf game or whatever? When people are focused in, when they are committed to a particular ideal or calling, when that dominates every aspect of their life, then they find ways to make all of life contribute to their endeavor. St. Paul was focused. "...but this ONE thing I do..."
ST. PAUL ALSO KNEW HOW TO FORGET
"...forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching unto those things which are before..."
Some people are so concerned over the past that they destroy their future. They cannot quit looking back. That could have happened to St. Paul. He could have let his guilt over persecuting the church prevent him from giving his best. He could have hung his head and said, "Nobody's going to listen to me. Look what I've done. I'm finished. It's over."
Guilt is a strange phenomenon. It is a much more powerful force in our lives than most of us realize. Sometimes it will play tricks on us. I heard about a little boy who, during a power blackout, was acting very guilty. When his parents asked him what was wrong, he broke down and cried. Through his sobs he confessed that on the way home from school he had kicked a power pole. He was sure his action had darkened an entire city.
That's not as extraordinary as it sounds. Psychologists have used the term scruples to describe the person whose sense of guilt over past deeds tends to restrict future accomplishments. The word scruple is derived from the Latin word, scrupulum. A scrupulum is a small pebble. When by accident a small pebble gets lodged inside one of our shoes, we feel intermittent stabs of pain as we walk. So the scrupulous person, as he walks through life, feels the intermittent agonies of his imagined guilt.
How do we deal with such guilt? In American Indian culture one way of dealing with all emotional pain is to dig a hole in the ground, lie down on your stomach, and speak out loud into the hole all your negative thoughts as well as your fears, frustrations, discouragements, and anger. Then you are to cover the hole over with dirt and "bury" those stressful emotions.
That would be a good exercise for some of us. We need to take our guilt and shame and cast them into the sea. Or bury them in the ground. After all, if a holy God can forgive us, surely it is time for us to forgive ourselves. St. Paul didn't let his past mistakes hinder him. Neither did he allow past affronts hinder him. After all, St. Paul, himself, was persecuted for his new Christian faith. He could have let that discourage and depress him as well. People do that.
Take the case of David Cone, pitcher for the New York Mets baseball team. In a game this summer against the Atlanta Braves, a batter hit to the first baseman and Cone had to cover first base. The umpire ruled the runner safe, saying Cone took his foot off the bag.
At that call, Cone exploded. Turning his back to the infield, he began a shouting match with the umpire. As teammates yelled to him and Cone went on shouting and holding the ball, two Atlanta runners came home safely.
That play gave the Braves a solid lead to clinch the game! People do stupid things when they let past insults and injuries color the present. St. Paul was persecuted in every possible way, but he never took his eye off of the mark. He was a master forgetter! Focused, forgetting and one thing more.
ST. PAUL WAS COMMITTED TO FORGING AHEAD
"...but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus."
This is the age of the entrepreneur. Do you know the mark of a truly successful entrepreneur? He or she is willing to take risks. He or she is willing to be laughed at, to be scorned, to experience humiliating failure if necessary. Unless you are born with a silver spoon in your mouth, there is no success in life without some element of risk.
John Goddard, author of KAYAKS DOWN THE NILE, has been called a modern "Indiana Jones." He has climbed the highest mountains and has swam the deepest seas. He says that some of us wait so long for our ship to come in that our pier collapses.
St. Paul's pier didn't collapse. His influence has extended over two thousand years of turbulent history because he knew what God wanted him to do, because he let nothing deter him and because he was willing to put his faith into immediate action. Whether he was standing before scholars, mobs, or kings, he was faithful to the high calling of God in Christ.
What is it that God wants you to do? Do you know? Have you focused in on that contribution to the world and His kingdom that He is calling you to make? Are you willing to lay aside the pain of the past and commit yourself to today alone? Are you ready to go into immediate action?
The year was 1934. A National Football League championship game was played between the New York Giants and the heavily-favored Chicago Bears. The game was played in bitter cold weather, on a field covered with ice. At half-time the Bears were leading 10-3.
During the half-time, however, the Giants switched from cleats to sneakers which they had borrowed from the Manhattan College basketball team. Suddenly, the Giants had the edge. With their superior traction, they scored four touchdowns in the second half and beat the Bears 30-13.
Perhaps your life has not been as effective as you would like for it to be. Perhaps it's time you changed shoes. Today can be a new beginning. Focus in on Christ and His will for your life. Forget those things that are passed, and forge on to a new life. With God's help, St. Paul did it. With God's help, so can you and I.
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* Mark Grimsley. "Ulysses S. Grant" His Life and Hard Times," Civil War Times Illus. (Feb., 1990),pp. 21-25. also Mark Grimsley. "An Unhappy Civilian," Civil War Times Illus. (Feb., 1990), p.27.
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