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Failure

Yesterday I often thought of Brett Favre. There were times when I found myself near a television tuned in to a sports station showing highlights of the Packers' stunning loss to the Giants in the NFC Championship game. Some talking head would drone on endlessly about Favre's responsibility for the loss and then speculate on his future in the NFL.

Now, let me confess that I am the exact opposite of a Cheesehead. The only thing more satisfying than the Packers losing to the Giants would have been the Packers losing to the Patriots in the Super Bowl. Tis better to not go to the Super Bowl than to go and lose. Anybody remember last year's loser? Exactly.

I have never been a Favre fanatic. I take great pleasure in knowing that Favre has never won a game in Texas Stadium. I don't like him because he is good - one of the best, perhaps the best quarterback ever to play the game - but he doesn't play for my team, so I hate him. And it is very entertaining for me to watch as "The Best Ever" is the reason why the Packers lost the game.

At some point during the day yesterday I began to feel bad for Favre. In the NFL, statistics are impressive and important, but nothing is as persuasive as Super Bowl Rings. Quarterbacks are often measured by how many "big games" they can win, and by how many they lose. Favre's statistics will show him to be one of the best quarterbacks ever to play the game, and he is a first ballot Hall of Famer. However, he is notorious for losing big games. Give me Troy Aikman or John Elway over Bret Favre in a championship game. Favre's career stats are far better than either of those guys, but they won some big games that Favre did not.

Here's my point. Never measure your life by championship rings, trophies and accomplishments, and your ability to be perfect in the big game. The truth is, you will probably fail more often than not. Our sinful human natures mean that we are fragile, flawed, and frail - prone to failure. You will blow it, blow it big. Maybe you already have. Never allow these failures to define who you are. Never live your life in the light of the worst thing you have ever done. Instead, learn to view your life from a heavenly perspective, where the over-arching direction can be clearly seen. And may the the direction of your life always be upward and onward as you get up, dust yourself off, and and keep walking in faith towards Christ Jesus. Favre's success as a quarterback will be measured by his career stats, and rightly so, because those stats tell the truth of his greatness. What will your career stats reveal about you? You are not a failure. The only way to fail is to quit.

The LORD said to Satan, "The LORD rebuke you, Satan! The LORD, who has chosen Jerusalem, rebuke you! Is not this man a burning stick snatched from the fire?" Zechariah 2:13

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