Altar
Call – Opelika-Auburn News
Walter
Albritton
August
14, 2016
Get up and get back
in the game!
People who refuse to quit inspire the
rest of us to try again when we have failed. I never tire of reading stories
about people who had the guts to get back in the game after being knocked down.
Tim Tebow, for
example, failed in his dream of becoming a quarterback in the NFL. Now 29 Tebow is working hard to realize a new dream: become a
major league baseball player.
Critics say Tebow
is too slow. Others, like former major league catcher Chad Moeller, believe Tim
can make it. Moeller said, “I truly believe Tim has the skill set and potential
to achieve his goal of playing in the major leagues.”
Whether or not Tebow
achieves his new dream, you just have to admire him for the effort. I will be cheering for him to make it.
I don’t know Hue Jackson, the new coach of
the Cleveland Browns, but I like his attitude. This is supposed to be a
rebuilding year for the Browns. They are not expected to win many football
games. But Jackson refuses to believe the Browns cannot have a winning season.
Jackson says, “We are going to work as hard
as anybody so I think we stand as good a chance as anybody to win. We are not
going to sit here and say uncle. It’s just not who we are. And I’ll never be
that way.” I love his spirit and I will be watching to see how many W’s they
can put on the board this fall.
After a poor performance in trials earlier
this year, Gabby Douglas was not expected to make the five-woman U.S. Olympic
gymnastics team. In tryouts Gabby fell twice from the balance beam. But Coach
Marta Karolyi chose Gabby for the team anyway because of her reputation as a
fighter who excels under pressure.
In Rio this past week Gabby proved worthy of
Karolyi’s trust by performing brilliantly as the U.S. team won Olympic gold
once again. Gabby got up and dusted herself off and got back in the game!
E. Stanley Jones traveled the world as an
evangelist and missionary. I was blessed to hear him speak many times. He often
explained that what kept him going in his later years was grace and gumption.
By gumption he meant the resilience to get up and get back in the game.
When Jones was 88 he suffered a stroke that
seriously impaired him physically but not mentally and spiritually. Though
severely impaired in his speech, he dictated one final book titled The Divine Yes and even managed to
preach several times from his wheelchair.
In so doing Jones practiced what he preached
and his example inspired many others to believe that, with a little grace and
gumption, they could get up and get back in the game.
Consider this possibility: the next time you
get knocked down, if you refuse to stay down, you could get up and get back in
the game – and inspire someone else to follow your example. All the grace you
need is available – but you have to provide the gumption. + + +