HOW DO YOU DEFINE WINNING?

HOW DO YOU DEFINE WINNING?

At the age or 47, former North Carolina State basketball coach, Jim Valvano, was suffering from terminal spinal cancer.  In an interview with a news reporter, he looked back over his life and shared a very transparent story about himself as a 23-year-old coach of a small college team.

“Why is winning so important to you?” one of his players unexpectantly asked.

“Because the final score defines you,” Valvano responded confidently.  “You lose, ergo, you’re a loser.  You win, ergo, you’re a winner!”

“No,” the young athlete insisted somewhat sheepishly.  “Participation matters.  Trying your best whether you win or lose – that’s what defines you."

It took Jim Valvano 24 more years of living.  It took him getting out of bed 3 or 4 times a night with his soaked pajamas and his teeth rattling from the fever chill of chemotherapy.   It took the terror of seeing himself die repeatedly in nightmarish dreams.  It took all of that for him to come to this conclusion: “That kid was right.  It’s about effort, not always about results.  It’s about trying.  Dear God, what a great human being I could have been if I had this awareness way back then.” 

My friend, are you a winner – in the ways that really matter?

A winner goes through a problem; a loser goes around it, and never gets past it.  A winner makes commitments; a loser makes promises.  A winner says, I’m good, but not as good as I ought to be; a loser says, I’m not as bad as a lot of other people.  Winners have a habit of listening; losers just wait until it’s their turn to talk.

Invest the necessary time, talent, treasure, effort, enthusiasm, commitment, character and love to actually be a winner.

Sisters and brothers, be continually blessed, and please (above all else) MAKE SURE YOU ARE READY TO MEET OUR SOON COMING KING. Maranatha!