Lonnie's Notes

[Note: Several years ago at the church where I was preaching, the Hall of Fame golfer, Byron Nelson was a member. In preparation for a special contribution we were having, he wrote the article I share with you today. Byron believed in giving and it served him well all the days of his life. About a month before he passed away, my son and I went to see him. The very last thing that he talked to us about was how to be a giver.]

Keep the Lord in Your Plans

Last Lord’s Day, when it was announced that the 29th would be our special contribution Sunday, I began thinking and praying right away about what I felt I ought to give and would like to give. At the time, I didn’t know exactly how I could afford the amount I had in mind, because even though I don’t owe anybody any money and have two nice cars and homes all paid for and plenty of clothes to wear, I also have a lot of expenses, including taxes and repairs on things around the ranch and at Kerrville, as well as a number of charities that we give to regularly.

But it was only a couple of days before I received in the mail a number of photographs to sign, for which I was paid a nice fee, and it so happened that the fee was exactly what I had in mind to give on the 29th. This has happened so many times in my life, not just about money to give, but about other needs that I’ve had through the years, that is always tells me that if we keep the Lord in our plans, everything will go all right.

The spiritual application that comes to me immediately is in Luke 6:38, where God tells us, “Give and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” And in 2 Corinthians 9:6-8, the Bible tells us that a person who plants a little will reap a little, while the one who plants much will reap much, and that we are to give freely and happily, for God can give us more than we will ever need.

~Byron Nelson

You have to love the spirit of Arthur Pedrick. Between 1962 and 1977, Arthur patented 162 inventions. Among other inventions, Arthur patented a bicycle with amphibious capability, a golf ball that could be steered in flight, and a way to supply water to the deserts of the world by keeping a constant supply of Arctic snowballs flying to the deserts with giant peashooters located in the Arctic.

What about his spirit is there to love? In the face of failure after failure, Arthur never quit trying. In 1902, the poetry editor of Atlantic Monthly returned a stack of poems to an aspiring poet.  This note accompanied the unpublished poems, “Our magazine has no room for your vigorous verse.” The aspiring poet’s name is Robert Frost. In 1905, the University of Bern turned down a doctoral dissertation as “irrelevant and fanciful.” That aspiring scholar was Albert Einstein. In 1894, a teenager named Winston Churchill had a note on his report card which noted his “conspicuous lack of success.”

Faith is not just belief. Faith is a belief that allows one to keep on keeping on, even in the face of failure. Before he was the leader of a nation, Moses was a 40-year-old failure running from the Pharaoh. Before he was a preacher on Pentecost, Peter lied and denied that he even knew Jesus. Before he penned the Gospel of Mark, he offended the Apostle Paul so deeply that Paul would not even take Mark on a missionary trip with him.

It is not your failures that define you. It is how many times you are willing to fail and then try again. Everyone remembers Will Rogers for his great wit and sense of humor. He did not start out as a humorist. He started out as an act that entertained audiences with rope tricks. One day, in the middle of his act, Will failed. He got tangled up in his ropes. Facing people who had paid money to see him do rope tricks, he said, “A rope ain’t so bad to get tangled up in if it ain’t around your neck.” The audience roared. He loved their response to his humor. His failure changed his life.

Failure is not a sin. As the Bible says, “The godly may trip seven times, but they will get up again. But one disaster is enough to overthrow the wicked” (Proverbs 24:16). You have only failed when you quit trying. There is a difference between saying, “I have failed” and “I am a failure.” Everyone fails, but not everyone is a failure.

~Lonnie Davis