“Failure is Not an Option”
This is a famous quote by Gene Kranz, the NASA Director during the Apollo 13 mission to the moon. This well know phrase is on a sticker which sits on the back of my Bible. In the past few days it has come to mean so much more to me than ever before. The thought of this quote used to put an immense pressure on me to succeed; that i couldn’t fail because the standard to which everyone held me was such that there was just no way i could fail without letting everyone down.
And then i met Cesar…
This man fell in the sugar factory in Laredo, Peru cracking his head, fracturing his spine, and losing feeling in his body below the sternum (not to mention most of his memories) This happened in December 2009, so for almost 2 whole years he’s been confined to the little 12′ x 12′ room that his brother owns, only watching tv and eating; only dreaming that he could walk again (literally dream after dream). The amazing thing is that somehow he found hope; he found joy… he found the idea that he’s loved in the midst of peeing in a bag for 2 years. This is how he described the changes in his life when he “found the Lord”.
This is what we talked about last Friday, as i met him on our last day in Peru. This all happened last Friday when he cried with Joy because he moved his feet for the first time in 2 years at the name of Jesus… then today mercy came. (Romans 9:16)
So this switched my mind, Failure is NOT an option because its just not possible. (Let me xsplain) Judgment needs a level of standard from which to measure success and the level of failure is anything lacking an overall net good. Now if ” the Lord IS working all things for the good of those who love Him…” promised to us in Romans 8:28, then in all things there is a net good. In other words:
The momentary things of this world don’t define success or failure, but instead the victory of our risen King defines that in all things there is no failure, or “Failure is not a option.” It’s not even on the check list.
The difficult pill to swallow is this… that some may say “because the Lord “failed” to protect Cesar in this moment the Lord failed and thus can’t be perfect.” But if his fall happened so that courage could develop, that hope could be understood, and so that he could see that the Lord is never gunna give up on him (aka. Loves him) the argument could be made that this brought about a ‘net good’ now carries weight.
The Lord is faithful. In this testament, the truth of the Lords faithfulness is described.
“But you, O Lord, are exalted forever.” Psalm 92:8
PS. Cesar stood up and walked today, and he’ll run tomorrow, and dance the next 🙂
Thanks for reading.
i love you all,
Josue
Choose Joy
