The late Dr. P. J. Titus made these statements regarding failure:

“Failures do not mean I am a failure; It does mean I have not yet succeeded.

Failure does not mean I have accomplished nothing; It does mean I have learned something.

Failure does not mean I have been a fool; It does mean I had enough faith to experiment.

Failure does not mean I’ve been disgraced; It does mean I dared to try.

Failure doesn’t mean I don’t have it; It does mean I have to try something in a different way.

Failure does not mean I am inferior; It does mean I am not perfect.

Failure does not mean I’ve wasted my time; It does mean I have an excuse to start over.

Failure does not mean I’ll never make it; It does mean I need more patience.

Failure does not mean God has abandoned me; It does mean He must have a better idea. Amen”.

I once had the awesome privilege of leading a dear old lady to the Lord whose name was Edna Layman. Edna had no family living and had never attended church anywhere. She was a nursing home patient when I met her and I enjoyed visiting with her whenever I was there. She was a simple farmer’s wife who lived in a farmhouse just north of DeKalb Memorial Hospital before that was all developed. Although now forgotten in history, she did have one claim to fame.

Her parents lived in that farmhouse when she was just a teenager. It seems that every Duesenberg that rolled off the assembly line was test-driven before it was shipped out. One winter day a test driver got stuck in a snowdrift turning around in her driveway. The driver went up to the then remote farmhouse and asked for someone to help him get out. Edna was the only one home so she went out. The driver explained how to make the clutch work, then pushed while Edna drove the car out of the snow. “I do believe I was the first woman to ever drive a Duesenberg,” she said. And she was probably right.

We need to cherish these old-timers who seem to not have much to offer. They once did! What have you learned from an older person?

Nobody knew who he was. Nobody seemed to care. They found him lying half dead with a deep gash in his throat. A doctor used black thread to suture the wound, then he was dumped into a paddy wagon and dropped off at Bellevue Hospital. There he languished until he died. A friend seeking him went to the local morgue and there among dozens of nameless corpses he found him.

His only possessions, a ragged coat that smelled of liquor with 38 cents in one pocket, and a scrap of paper in the other. On it was written, “Dear friends and gentle hearts.” It almost sounded like the words of a song somebody was going to write – which would have been correct. For once upon a time this man had written songs that made the whole world sing. Songs like Jeannie With the Light Brown Hair; My Old Kentucky Home; Oh! Suzanna; and 200 more that are deeply rooted in our heritage. His name was Stephen Collins Foster.

How many other people that you and I know were once productive citizens but have now grown discouraged and waste their lives away today. Does anybody care? Let me encourage you to keep your eyes open for such people today and say a word of encouragment to them. Act like you care.

Listen to this paraphrase excerpt from John Wesley’s journal:

“May 5th: AM: Preached in St. Ann’s; was asked not to come back. PM: Preached at St. John’s; deacons said, ‘Get out and stay out’.”

“May 12th: AM: Preached at St. Jude’s; can’t go back there. PM: Preached at St. George’s; kicked out again.”

“May 19th: AM: Preached at St. Andrew’s; elders called a special meeting and said not to return. PM: Preached on the street and was run off.”

“May 26th: AM: Preached in a field; got chased by a bull that was set loose.”

“June 2d: AM: Preached at the edge of town; police moved me. PM: Preached in a pasture and 10,000 people came!”

What if Wesley had given up? What would have become of the multitudes he led to Christ?

Author Don Owens says, “People fail because they believe that if at first you don’t succeed – try something else! No, failure’s a sure thing for those who follow that advice! Visions are fulfilled because visionaries refuse to quit. They never let disappointment get the upper hand. Adversity just spurs them on to greater efforts.”

The Apostle Paul said it like this: “Be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord” (1 Corinthians 15:58).

A carload of hunters, looking for a place to hunt, pulled into a farmer’s yard. The driver went up to the farmhouse to ask permission to hunt.

The old farmer said, “Sure you can hunt, but would you do me a favor? That old mule standing over there is 20 years old and sick with cancer, but I don’t have the heart to kill her. Would you do it for me?”

The hunter said, “Sure,” and headed for the car.

While walking back, however, he decided to pull a trick on his hunting buddies. He got into the car and when they asked if the farmer had said OK, he said, “No, we can’t hunt here, but I’m going to teach that old cuss a lesson.” With that, he rolled down his window, stuck his gun out and blasted the mule.

As he exclaimed, “There, that will teach him!” a second shot rang out from the passenger side. And, one of his hunting buddies shouted, “I got the cow!”

Often we don’t realize who is watching us. We Christians are to set an example that others can follow.

“In everything set them an example by doing what is good” (Titus 2:7).

Three monkeys sat in a coconut tree,

Discussing things as they’re said to be.

Said one to the others, “Now listen, you two,

There’s a certain rumor that can’t be true -

That man descended from our noble race.

Why, the very idea is a terrible disgrace!

“No monkey ever deserted his wife,

Starved her babies and ruined her life.

And you’ve never known a mother monk

To leave her babies with others to bunk,

Or pass them on from one to another,

Till they scarcely know who is their mother.

“And another thing you’ll never see -

A monk build a fence ’round a coconut tree,

Letting all the coconuts go to waste,

Forbidding all others to take a taste.

Why, if I put a fence around a tree,

Starvation would force you to steal from me.

“There’s another thing a monk won’t do -

Go out at night and get in a stew;

Or use a club or gun or knife

To take another old monkey’s life.

Yes, man descended, the ornery cuss,

But, brother, he didn’t descend from us!”

-Anonymous