Quit Being A Quitter

After a successful military career and after having been elected Prime Minister of England twice, near the end of his life he was invited back to Harrow (the preparatory school) to address the students. His coming was announced, and all the students awaited the arrival of this great orator. The day arrived and everyone waited, listening carefully so as not to miss any important thing he might say. After Sir Winston graciously acknowledged his introduction, he made his speech. He said, “Young gentlemen, never give up! Never give up! Never Give up! Never! Never! Never! Never!” And with that he sat down.

I am sure none of the students there ever forgot the sound advice they heard that day. He was sharing with them the secret of every successful man and that is, NEVER BE A QUITTER. They were hoping to hear some pearls of wisdom and they did!

Every person that ever reaches a high level of greatness did not reach that level by being a quitter.

Illus: A young man asked a professional ice skater, "How did you ever learn to skate like that?" The skater said, " I learned to skate like that because every time I fell down, I got back up!"

We have to go through life with a lot of persistence.

Illus: Here is the story of a persistent duck.

• A duck walks into a pet food shop and asks, 'Got any duck feed?'

• The shop assistant replies, 'No sir, we don't stock duck feed.'

• Next day the duck returns. 'Got any duck feed?'

• 'No sir, as I said, we don't stock duck feed.'

• The following day the duck shows up again. 'Got any duck feed?'

• 'Listen, I don't have duck feed. Never did have duck feed, never will have duck feed! And if you ask me one more time I'll nail your feet to the floor.'

• Bright and early the next morning the duck strolls into the pet food shop. 'Got any nails?' asks the duck.

• ‘No,’ says the shop assistant.

• 'Got any duck feed?'

Illus: Jonas Salk discovered the vaccine for polio. But did you know that before he found the one that did work, he had 200 other attempts?

• Someone asked him, “How did it feel to fail 200 times before you found the correct vaccine?”

• Jonas said, “I never failed 200 times in my entire life, I just discovered 200 ways how not to make a vaccine for polio.”

We live in a society of QUITTERS! That is a serious charge to make against any society, but it is not hard to prove.

We see -

I. THE PEOPLE

There was a time when people persevered through their problems, but today we see very little of that kind of perseverance. For example,

A. PEOPLE ARE GOING FROM JOB TO JOB

People used to be dedicated to their jobs and worked at that one job their entire life. Sure they had problems on these jobs, but they knew how to deal with these problems.

Men used to persevere on their jobs because...

• There were no give-away programs. A man would starve to death if he would not work.

• There was no organized labor, or unions, to protect them.

Men would persevere and stay on the same jobs until they retired.

We live in an age marked by people going from JOB TO JOB!

B. PEOPLE ARE GOING FROM MARRIAGE TO MARRIAGE

There was a time when people got married and it was taken for granted that this was a lifetime contract. They had their problems, but with God’s help, they learned how to deal with these problems. But things have definitely changed when it comes to today’s marriages.

When some couples get married they should not say, “I do,” in these modern marriage services. They should say, “Maybe,” or “Perhaps, I do.”

Not so long ago, when a couple got married, the word “divorce” was not mentioned in the home BECAUSE THIS WAS NOT AN OPTION. Today couples enter marriage not having the slightest idea about how to work out problems, and divorce seems to always be the solution.

C. PEOPLE ARE GOING FROM CHURCH TO CHURCH

There was a time when folks got saved, joined a church and went to that church the rest of their lives. You could not have pulled them out of that church with a team of wild horses. Most families stayed in the same church their entire life.

But today, a church across town can offer a free snowball and get members to leave their churches to come get the free snowball.

Today people go “church shopping” as frequently as they go car shopping. These people have no idea of what Winston Churchill meant when he said, “Never! Never! Never give up!”