Will you step into the arena?

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat. (Teddy Roosevelt)

How easy to be the critic of others. How easy to point to the one who dared but stumbled. How easy to sit in our armchairs and throw rocks at the moon while we ourselves never step outside the front door. There is something very much alive about the man or woman who keeps getting back up after being knocked down. Who, when they are old and dying in their beds will be able to look back on their lives and know that they tried to climb every mountain that stood in their way.

They swam across every river that barred the way forward. They did not lie down and simply let the snow cover them. Better to have loved and lost than to have never loved and lived to count the cost. The question today is " will you step into the arena?" In order to step into the arena you have to step outside of your comfort zone. Nothing happens within this zone. It is the place where vision comes to die. Do you know how to spell faith? It is spelled R.I.S.K. What will you risk this year?

Some will risk something small, some will even risk it all. Better to risk something than not to risk at all. The man or woman without faith is the man or woman who will risk nothing and live in a gray colorless world. The Kingdom of God is alive with color but only the bold enter in. Will you step into the arena this year? Do not be a cold and timid soul who knows nothing of victory or defeat. Step over fear and into faith..........bro Frank

Dieingtolive writes............

"My heart it seems is continually heavy for the all the right reasons. I wouldn't give this pain away. And in that pain I wrote "There is no pain too great to be regretted if that pain is the catalyst that brings us to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. Lord do whatever it takes to bring my whole family to you & to each other."

This is a profound statement and one that my own family is personally connected to. It means that above all else, and that includes quality of life or position or happiness or anything else, the only thing that matters is the salvation of our loved ones. I agree with that sentiment completely.

Holding strong in the midst of these afflictions of our loved ones is the eye of the storm. If our earnest desire is truly to see them saved come what may, then this will hold us, it wont protect us from the pain, but it will hold us. This indeed would be an arena in my estimations............bro Frank