Apples of Gold
Radio Script for May 2, 2008
“Do You Feel Like Quitting Today?”
Hello, I’m
I once stood by an old man.
Along came the American flag.
He snapped to attention and saluted. And partly out of respect for the flag, and partly out of respect for him, I put my hand over my heart.
The flag stopped in front of us, and there we stood.
And stood.
And stood.
The flag should have moved on, but for whatever reason, it didn’t.
The old man maintained his salute, and I kept my hand over my heart.
I started to feel kind of silly. “What if the flag never moves,” I thought. “I’m not going to keep my hand here forever.”
I watched the old man. When he put his hand down, so would I. But he was waiting for a cue of some kind. I’ve never been in the military, so what do I know?
I should have been looking at the flag, but now I was fixated on his hand, age spots and all.
Have you ever tried holding your arm up for several minutes? It’s easy at first, but quickly you just wear out.
Soon the old man’s hand was shaking. It looked like it was all he could do to keep his arm up in that salute.
“Just put it down,” I thought. “Nobody will care, and you’re going to give yourself a stroke or something.”
But he didn’t. He maintained the salute until the flag moved on.
When it was finally over and I got a better look at him, I noticed that even his legs were shaking. It cost him something, but he held that salute from start to finish.
Titus 2:2 says, “Teach the older men to be temperate, worthy of respect, self-controlled, and sound in faith, in love and in endurance.”
That old man symbolizes much of that verse. He was self-controlled, worthy of respect, and he certainly had the endurance.
Those three qualities go together. It takes self control to have endurance, otherwise you will quit every time things get tough. But when you have endurance, you automatically earn respect.
Endurance earns respect.
How many times do you start something, then quit? Yes, it’s the easy way out, but no one respects you for it.
If you have low self esteem, and you are a quitter, then there is an obvious solution for your self esteem problem. Stop the quitting.
My daughter predicted how a story would end the other day. She said, “And they will run into problems, but they won’t give up and they will end up as champions.” “Just like always,” she said.
“Yes,” I said, “And we love stories like that, when people endure and come out victorious.”
I remember one Sunday afternoon back in ‘93. I flipped on the TV to see what was happening in the NFL playoffs. The Houston Oilers were destroying the Buffalo Bills 35 to 3. I left the TV on and laid down on the couch to take a nap.
Then the Bills scored, and scored, and scored. I gave up on my nap. My wife’s a football fan, so I called her in and said, “You gotta see this.”
The Bills ended up winning in overtime, and it was the greatest comeback in NFL history. Interestingly, the quarterback is an outspoken Christian named Frank Reich, who also happened to quarterback what was at the time the greatest comeback in college football history back in ‘84.
You may not have heard of Frank Reich. For the Bills, he was the backup quarterback to Jim Kelly when they went to four straight Super Bowls. He may not be a household name, but he knows all about endurance.
Frank is often asked if there was an awesome halftime speech before that great comeback. He says, “Not really. We just took it one play at a time.”
And that’s how endurance happens: one play at a time.
So do you feel like quitting today? Well can you make it just one more day? Can you do your best for just one more play?
Then do it! Like the old man holding that salute for just one more minute. Like Frank Reich doing his best for just one more play. Don’t give up. Learn endurance.
And this is how endurance happens: one play at a time.
Comments?
E-mail me: dougapple@wave94.com.
May God bless you today! With
Frank Reich is a Christian speaker, and you can read more about him at this website:
http://www.outreachspeakers.com/speakers/frankreich.htm
© 2008 The Arrow’s Tip
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Doug Apple
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