Fight One More Round

I was one of those kids that was never very big. I loved to play sports, but I was always younger and much smaller than all the other guys I played with. So, my mom taught me to be the person that would never give up. So, I would spend more hours out shooting baskets into the dark than anyone else. If I could get into the gym at night or over the weekend, I’d be there. I tried to devise all kinds of ways to practice baseball all by myself out in the country, I did whatever I could to try to get better because I knew my size was always going to be against me. (Of course, the other problem was, I just wasn’t very good LOL!) So, a theme of my life is to not give up or give in. When the storms of life come, we are tempted to just give in and give up on hope. But I want to encourage you to pray today (and everyday) that the Holy Spirit will give you the strength, courage, and encouragement to not give up. Getting knocked down isn’t the problem, storms are inevitable, no matter how hard we try or how much we pray that they won’t come – THEY DO! So, let’s pray that we can have what it takes (and we do have what it takes, we have the Holy Spirit living in us to give us everything we need) to meet the storm head on and overcome it. We may get knocked down, but the idea is that we need to get it one more time. Mark Batterson shares a story in his new book “Do It for A Day.” Of a boxer named Gentleman Jim Corbett. On September 7, 1892, Gentleman Jim stepped into the ring with arguably the greatest boxer of all time. John L. Sullivan was the last heavyweight champion of bare-knuckle boxing and the first heavyweight champion of gloved boxing. In 50 fights, he was undefeated. The only fight Sullivan ever last was this one! Gentleman Jim Corbett knocked him out in the 21^st round, (yes you read it right: 21^st round) became the Heavyweight Champion of the World and gave the prize money to his church! The only fight Sullivan ever last was this one! When Jim Corbett was asked about how he did it, he shared that he had a motto in the ring: “Fight one more round!” What a great motto for our lives. No matter what is going on in your life today, stand back up, and fight one more round. Don’t let the lies of Satan take you down, stand up and fight one more round! Here’s what Gentleman Jim said about fighting: “When your arms are so tired that you can hardly lift your hands to come on guard, fight one more round. When your nose is bleeding and your eyes are black and you are so tired that you wish your opponent would crack you on the jaw and put you to sleep, fight one more round. The man who fights one more round is never whipped.”