The Habit Of Getting Back Up.

Pastor Hil got fired as a pastor. The experience discouraged and demoralized him, at least initially. He said something that we can all learn from. "The fact that you have been knocked down is interesting, but the length of time you remain down is important." 

There are many of you reading this that have been knocked down. Though difficult, some of you chose to get back up again. In fact, you have made a habit of climbing back to your feet after having been knocked down by adversity time and time again. You model perseverance and grit. You plod ahead after getting knocked down with dogged determination.

The word habit is defined as:an acquired behavior pattern regularly followed until it has become almost involuntary:

Getting back up is a desirable quality. A habit to develop. A Pattern to follow. A behavior to learn. Getting back up is harder than staying down. 

I am thankful for a generation of senior adults that have modeled the habit of getting back up. Even though senior adulthood often brings declining health I have witnessed many get back up. Getting up from a broken hip is not harder than enduring the Great Depression. Getting back up from pneumonia is not tougher than storming the beaches of Normandy. Getting back up from cancer is not more trying than surviving the death of a child or spouse. Repeatedly I have seen men and women advanced in years get back up again with God's strength. 

It is my hope that those of you reading this that have been knocked down will get back up. Maybe God will use these simple words to inspire you not to give up. We are inspired by people who make the habit of getting back up. Isn't that why the mythical prize fighter, Rocky Balboa, became so popular in the series of ROCKY movies. No matter how hard he got hit he kept getting back up. He did not always win but he kept getting back up. 

If I mention the name Max Lucado many of you will think of the multiple books he has penned. He is a best selling author. Did you know it did not start out that way. 15 different publishers turned Lucado down for publishing his first book. Lucado once said, "In the beginning nobody wanted to publish my stuff." When asked if he got discouraged Lucado responded, "No. Every time I got a manuscript back, I thought, well I will just try another one." He kept getting back up and today is a best selling author because he did not give up. 

Writing is a lonely business. Since 2008 I have written over 1,200 blogs. I rarely get  feedback whether God uses them. Many of my days are spent isolated in my office with God, an open Bible, and my mind swirling with ideas. Many hours have been spent pounding the key board of a computer writing a devotional, book, or blog. I do not get much feedback positive or negative. 

This past year I got knocked down thinking my writing did not matter. I grew discouraged and went through a dry spell. It lasted for nearly four months. In fact, my first blog of 2015 did happen until April. Even after that I seldom wrote thinking it really did not make much of a difference. 

Then God would inspire something and, once again, I stroke the computer keys writing. I've never written for money. Money is not my motivation. I have also not been motivated by fame. I know I am no Max Lucado nor desire to be. All I ever wanted to do through writing was to help and challenge people. The temptation to give up nearly won this year because I became convinced what I wrote did not truly help people. That is the truth. This is not my attempt to fish for compliments. I became convinced I was a failure as a writer. Nothing anybody said from time to time convinced me otherwise. 

God pulled me up from the canvas many times this past year and put a message in my heart I had to write. Preaching two to three times a week was not enough. I needed to write the message to get it out to more people. I can only preach in one place at a time. God can minister to people all over the world through writing at the same time. 

A couple of weeks ago I received a message that made it all worthwhile. A lady from my hometown wrote to encourage me and inform me she was sending me a financial love offering in the mail. Here is what she wrote, " You are truly one of God's anointed for "such a time as this". I appreciate your heart for the lost (and for the saved) who just need to hear truth written and spoken clearly. Certainly, you have ministered to me through your writings. Thank you again for being a light.You have the ability to not only impart God's word through your writing, but show real life application. What a life legacy!"

That fueled my fire to get back up and seated before the computer screen help people again. Her words inspired me to get back up and to keep doing what God called me to do since I was a child.

Many people are pummeled to the canvas by life. Many are tempted to stay down. It takes less faith and effort to stay down. Sometimes it hurts less to give up and stay down. For everyone of you who has chosen to get back up in 2015 I salute you. Many of you have done it in front of me. You fight the cancer. You press through depression. You forgive those who wronged you. You refuse to give into financial set backs. You have made a habit of getting back up. We all need more of that.