Last night Kobe Bryant set the NBA record for most missed shots in a career. When asked about breaking the record he said, "I'm a shooting guard who has played 19 years... a shooting guard." At first glance we might find it embarrassing. The most misses? But then we realize that being tops on that list means that Bryant has been good enough to play 19 years (and counting) in a league that has an average career length of 4.8 years and that he shoots the ball a lot (after all, he is a shooting guard). The other thing is that when we look at the list we see that the others on the top of the list are all Hall of Fame legends of the game and that many of the names on the list for most misses are the same names on the list of most points scored in a career. So does this record mean that Kobe Bryant is a bad shot? Well, Kobe Bryant is fourth on the list of all-time NBA scoring leaders after Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Karl Malone, and Michael Jordan. Unless Kobe gets hurt, he will pass Jordan this year. You can't do that if you're a bad shot.
Similarly, Brett Favre was one of the top quarterbacks of all time. You might not know, however, that he also holds the record for the most interceptions, fumbles, and incompletions. Do you know which major league pitcher holds the records for most batters walked? Nolan Ryan. He has also struck out the most batters. How about the pitcher with the most losses in a career? Cy Young. Yet, the award for the best pitcher in each league every year is named after him! Who has the most strikeouts as a batter? Reggie Jackson. Mr. October!
Sports show us that those who fail the most are quite often those that succeed the most as well. What makes someone great is not that they never fail, but that they keep trying their hardest, keep learning lessons, keep improving, and keep on keepin' on. They don't get discouraged; they take it as a challenge and grow from it. This isn't just true in sports, however.
Consider the example of Abraham Lincoln. He lost in an election for the Illinois state legislature, failed in business, had a nervous breakdown, lost his bid to become speaker of the Illinois state legislature, lost a bid for congress, finally got elected but then couldn't get reelected, lost an election for senate, was on the losing ticket as the vice presidential candidate, lost an election for senate again, and then became arguably the most important president in the history of the United States. Winston Churchill is also a great example. He failed miserably during World War I costing thousands upon thousands of lives because of his terrible strategy for the Gallipoli campaign. He was removed from office and shamed. He was enemy #1 in Great Britain. Then he ended up being perhaps the most important leader in the modern history of the Western world. In addition, Thomas Edison failed way more than he succeeded.
If failure defines you then you are a failure. If failure challenges you and propels you forward then you are a success. Here is how business guru Seth Godin puts it:
If I fail more than you do, I win, because built into this lesson is the notion that you get to keep playing. If you get to keep playing, that means you get to keep failing. Sooner or later you're going to succeed. The people who lose are either the ones who don't fail at all and get stuck or the ones that fail so big that they don't get to play again... but [unlike airline pilots and people who build pacemakers] most of us live in the kind of world in which the kind of failure I'm talking about isn't fatal at all.
Why am I saying all of this? Well, the story about Kobe Bryant's record got me thinking, as have two books I've read recently. The first is Mindset by Carol Dweck and the second is The Obstacle is the Way by Ryan Holiday. Reading those books helped me to realize that for years--since childhood--I have been doing what is easy and avoiding failure at all costs. I only played the sports I was already good at, and I only took the classes in which I knew I'd get an A. Because of that I didn't learn much and I didn't develop fortitude. Part of why I left my first church was that we'd failed at building a new handicap accessible building (my idea) and I think I may have left because I couldn't bring myself to fail again. By the way, after I left they figured out how to get it done, helped along by the fact that they didn't have to pay me anymore. Part of why I started looking to leave my second church was that the core of my youth group--that had made youth ministry easy--was about to graduate. Without them I'd be a failure. So I ran. Thankfully God guided me to this wonderful congregation in Washington Court House, Ohio, but I have to admit that when we failed in our efforts to bring on a staff member in children's and youth ministry I had to fight off the feeling that I'd failed so bad that I needed to leave. Somehow, though, God did a work in me earlier this year and the books I've read recently have helped me to understand just how important that work was for my future.
For years I'd avoided writing a novel because I just knew it wouldn't be good. It wouldn't be published and nobody would buy it even if it was. So I just didn't do it. But this year I did it, and only 25 people bought the e-book version of it. In years past that would have crushed me and I would have sworn off writing forever. This year, however, I said, "Hey, I wrote a novel!" I don't even think that the novel failed. Although I don't think any publishing house would pick it up because it is too short and not exotic enough for contemporary tastes, if I was to self-publish a printed book of it I think I could sell more of it. I've researched ways to do that. What if it fails? Then I'll learn something.
I used to say, "I'm not a runner. I wasn't built for running," but this year I said, "I can only become a runner by running." Over and over I failed in being able to run as far as I wanted to run, but every single day I got in better shape. I got to where I could run 3 miles, then 4 miles, then 5 miles, then six miles, then seven miles, and then eight miles. The truth is that for years I was just making excuses and believing my own excuses. I was afraid to fail. What if I don't win? I'll fell bad about myself. This year I just pushed through and you know what? I lost more than thirty pounds, ran three regular 5K's, one obstacle zombie 5K, and a brutal 10K trail run. Did I win any of them? Heck no! There are high school kids who can run twice as fast and five times as far without breaking a sweat. I did win a few medals for my age/gender group. I had to be willing to fail in order to grow and achieve.
I want to close by saying that I think that we, not just in our personal lives but as a congregation, need to be willing to fail in the effort to fulfill our vision of "sharing the wonder and love of God with all." Failing means that we're trying. If we never fail that means that we aren't trying anything. One area that I think we need to try some new things is in the structure of our church leadership. As far as I know, we still have the same number of officers that we had when we were a church of twice--almost three times--the size.
Our church bylaws--because they were written when this congregation was quite different--are quite constricting. I remind all of us, however, that while the Scriptures say "the Word of the Lord shall stand forever," they don't say the same thing about church bylaws. We can change them to better reflect our current vision, mission, and needs. But we've always done it this way. That's not true and even if it was it doesn't necessarily matter. But what if we change things and it is a disaster? Well, then we'll learn something and we'll try to fix it. Let's be willing to think way outside the box in all sorts of areas. Jesus said that even the gates of hell can't prevail over His church, so I'm pretty sure our experimenting with different leadership structures and other ways of doing ministry aren't going to be what brings the whole thing down. We have to keep things in perspective.
I'm not the biggest fan of Kobe Bryant, but I have to give credit where credit is due. Congratulations Kobe on having the record for most missed shots. Your play on the court is an inspiration to me because I know that the only reason you're missing shots is because you're taking them, and you know what, we'll only remember the ones you made anyway.
Have a great week,
Pastor Everett
