Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania tell us that a key predictor of success isn’t talent, title, wealth, or good looks. It’s the ability to work hard for a prolonged period of time towards a focused goal; to keep moving forwards despite challenges, obstacles, and failures. Paul writes: ‘We are pressed on every side by troubles, but not crushed and broken. We are perplexed because we don’t know why things happen as they do, but we don’t give up and quit. We are hunted down, but God never abandons us. We get knocked down, but we get up again and keep going’ (vv. 8-9 TLB). Here are some famous people who got knocked down but kept on going. A memo issued after Fred Astaire’s first screen test said, ‘Can’t act…slightly bald…can dance a little.’ Walt Disney was fired by a newspaper editor for lack of ideas. He also went bankrupt several times before he built Disneyland. Albert Einstein didn’t speak until he was four and didn’t write until he was seven. His teacher described him as ‘mentally slow, unsociable and adrift forever in foolish dreams’. F.W. Woolworth’s employers at the dry goods store said he hadn’t enough sense to wait on customers. Winston Churchill failed at junior school. He didn’t become Prime Minister of Great Britain until he was sixty-six, after a lifetime of defeats and setbacks. He made his greatest contribution as a senior citizen. Abraham Lincoln once said, ‘Bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other.’ So when life knocks you down, get back up and keep going.

© 2024. Written by Bob and Debby Gass. Used by permission under licence from UCB International.