It’s Not How Much We Fail—It’s HOW We Fail… Hello Hump Day Readers. We’ve had a wonderful week as camp hosts and now we have seven days off…to go play, do laundry, sit up late and watch the incredible Perseid meteor show, and relax. It’s nice to say that this week was a no-fail, even Saturday night people behaved themselves and we didn’t need police-AMEN!

There is always that stern warning from a boss or parent/guardian that says “Failure is NOT an Option.” I find this ridiculous and harmful. After all, we are humans—imperfect folks who are going to fail at things no matter what. But if you are taught this stern warning, it can really warp your perspective on life. In fact, I’m sharing the story of Jim Valvano, one of my favorite coaches in the collegiate basketball world. At 23 he became the coach of the North Carolina State basketball team. In his words he says “I was hard-hitting with those boys and horribly overly obsessed with winning.”

Then—at only 47 years—Jim was battling terminal cancer. In an interview on CBS, he talked about his obsession on winning and his constant rant to the players: “The final score defines you. You lose—you’re a loser. You win—you’re a winner.” The interviewer asked him if that quote helped the players and Jim replied “No, it actually set them up for failure and many of them felt that just couldn’t be good enough.” He went on to say “After years of living and countless nights waking up in a cold seat, shaking from the fever of chemotherapy, my perspective changed about what it means to be a winner. I believe that winning is effort—NOT result. God, what a great human being I could have been if I’d had that awareness back then.” It wasn’t long before he found himself on the wrong side of ethics and resigned. But Jim had a decision to make on his attitude failures so he contacted as many of his players that he could. He heard their stories of failure but he also heard their stories of how they got up again and continued on. He apologized for his winning obsession, but the players still thanked him for pushing them to become stronger and better. When Jim died, many of his players attended his funeral and shared their wins and failures and how the ‘leader’ in Jim had made a difference in their lives.

In Deuteronomy 6:18–19 [NLT] we hear the words of Moses giving instructions and encouragement for the people of Israel, saying “You must do what is right and good—what pleases the Lord. Then everything will go well for you, and you can go in and take the good land that the Lord promised your ancestors. And you will force out all your enemies, just as the Lord said.” Did they experience failure—if you’ve read your Bible, you know that they indeed failed—many times over (it took them a long time to get to the land of Canaan!). But often that failure brought them to embrace God’s wisdom and the hope they needed to press on and use those failures as a reminder going forward.

I think we don’t need to be fearful of failure, but embrace the fact that not everything we try to do in life may fail. The answer is not to sulk and think that all is lost. Instead, it is the time to look at the failure and ask yourself “Am I doing something outside of God’s will? Or is God taking me through this for a reason that will help me?” Often our failures come because of our disobedience and God doesn’t want us living that way. In his perfect wisdom and love, God wants us to look at that failure as a turning point to do better, to stay in God’s will, be obedient to it and have an enriched life.

One of the last quotes from Jim Valvano has been used many times, not just in the athletic world, but just about everywhere: “It’s not how much you fail, but rather how you fail. Put your focus toward obeying and leave the results to God.”

Jim learned a lot before he went home to Jesus and in the short time he had, he was determined to make a difference. He wanted his players to succeed and not be fearful of failure, but to get up and keep going. We do well to heed Jim’s quote. We must toss out the awful warning that “failure is NOT an option” and turn our focus toward God and follow God’s will for us. Then, we can be ready for that failure that will come and not be afraid because we know that God will turn it into something incredible and good for us that we could never have imagined! AMEN.