Mon Inspiration

Morning Inspiration with Pastor Merritt

It is fascinating that the last earthly encounter that Jesus ever had, before He breathed His last was not with the CEO of a Fortune 500 Company. It was not with the president of a powerful country, the king of an empire, or even a well-respected religious leader. His last encounter was with a failure. There are very few, if any of us, that are not haunted by the ghost of failure. Many of us still carry the regret, the guilt, and the heartache of an area in our life in which we simply failed.

When I got into high school my greatest dream and desire was to play basketball. I had dreams of getting a letter-jacket and playing in front of my mom and dad who both played basketball when they were in school. I worked all summer getting ready for try-outs when school started. I practiced my ball handling, my dribbling, and my passing, but especially my shooting. I was ready when try-outs came.

The V-team coach happened to be my Social Studies teacher. His name was Mr. McFarland. We had a very great relationship and every day after try-outs he would tell me I was in great shape to make the team. I wasn’t the best player out there, but I clearly wasn’t the worst and it was obvious (at least to me) I was easily in the top ten. Only 15 would make the team and I felt sure that I would. After the last night of try-outs I went by Mr. McFarland’s on the way to the shower and he winked at me and grinned and gave me a thumbs-up.

I couldn’t wait to get to school the next morning to check the list and when I got there my world exploded. I couldn’t believe my eyes! I didn’t make it. I ran into an empty locker-room and began to weep. My Social Studies class met at the end of every day. When I walked into the room I noticed Mr. McFarland wouldn’t even look at me. After class, I waited and went up to him. Before I could say a word he said, “It is not my fault. The varsity coach (who by the way never saw me practice one time) overruled me and put another kid on the team who had transferred in from another school that he had seen play and liked him.” It didn’t matter to me why I didn’t make the team – I just didn’t make it. The hardest thing I had to do was to tell my mom and dad that I didn’t make it and why. There is another story about how my mother, years later after I was already in college met up with this varsity high school coach and tore a strip in him a mile wide over how he treated her baby boy, but that is another story. Though I should have, I never tried out again. I just went and played city-league ball, but I felt like a failure.

You’ve been there. You intended to finish college, but you quit. You feel like a failure. You intended to be married until, death due you part, but you divorced and you feel like a failure. You intended to remain a virgin, but you lost your virginity. You feel like a failure. You invested in a business, convinced you would strike it rich, but you lost it all and you feel like a failure.

If you have ever failed in anything and feel like you are a failure in any way, this message is made for you. It is important to remember: You can have failure in your life without being a failure with your life.