The Thursday Update

Lakeshore Friends—

Failure is a part of life.  We all fail, and we all fail more than we’d like to think or maybe even realize.  James tells us what should be obvious when he says, “We all stumble in many ways.” (James 3:2).

The question is not if we fail, but what we do when we fail.  On Sunday, I shared Proverbs 24:16 which tells us, “Though the righteous fall seven times, they rise again, but the wicked stumble when calamity strikes.”  So people who triumph over failure are the ones who get up just one time more than they fall down.

And that tells me something important: failure is never final.

As long as God is in heaven and we have breath in our lungs, our failures don’t have to be the end of the road for us.  They can be the start of a new road.  For that to happen, we need to start by getting things right with God, then right with people who we may have wronged before we can get right within ourselves.  That takes courage, but it always takes courage to get up one more time than you fall.

On Sunday, we’ll look at one of the major failure stories in the Bible, featuring King David.  We’ll see what leads us into deep failure and what gets us out of it.

If you want hope for the times that you have really messed up, this Sunday will provide it.

Warmly,

Vince

Lakeshore Friends—

Say the word “failure” and very few people will think of anything positive in response.  Past failures in school, at work, with friends, in sports and the like come to mind and fill us with thoughts of wishing that we did better.  That’s very normal and even healthy, especially when it comes to any kind of moral failures.  No one wants that.  The failure event itself is a dreadful one for anyone with a drive to be the best they can be.

But what if our response to failure produced something positive over time?  What if our response led to some growth that would make failure less likely to happen in our lives?  Again, while failure is not fun (and sometimes not healthy), what we do after we fail actually can be.  In fact, failure can be a setup for a comeback!

In fact, I came across an expression several years ago for this.  It’s called, “failing forward”.  Whenever we fail, we can do one of three things:

1. Retreat, go backwards and become a worse version of ourselves.  That’s failing backward.
2. Resist, avoid making changes and maintain our failure mentality.  That’s failing down.
3. Run forward, grow from our failure(s) and become a better person.  That’s failing forward.

Which one best describes you after you fail? 

On Sunday, we’ll continue our new, short series by looking at how to fail forward.  We’ll explore some myths about failure and learn four ways to fail forward from people in the Bible who either did or seemed to fail, only to learn the lessons or persevere through it to become successes!

After all, we all fail and need to learn how to fail forward, don’t we?

I hope to see you here on Sunday.

Vince

Lakeshore Friends—

What is success?  The answer seems to depend on who you ask. 

Some say that success is based on achieving as much prestige, pleasure, possessions or power as you can in your life.  But in the end, Solomon, who had all of this (and more), discovered that all of it was ultimately meaningless in the grand scheme of things.

What does God say about true success?  In this new series starting Sunday called Success And Failure, we will offer up a biblical definition of true success and the path required to achieve it in your life.  We’ll also address how to handle the inevitable times of failure we experience on the path to biblical success so that we can fail forward and recover from the times we fail in really significant ways. 

Want to find a success that satisfies you inside?  This series will help you get there.

Hope to see you on Sunday as we remember those who gave their lives for us in service to our country this weekend.

Warmly,

Vince