Monday.....Miscellaneous.....Never, Never, Never Quit...Redux

The following blog is from June 10th of this year but I feel it is necessary to revisit it, for the near future in America is more perilous than it has ever been before; although one would never know it while scanning the television channels.  There are difficulties ahead that may shake us to the very core, shake our beliefs and render us temporarily ineffective to act. There has to be a level of preparation but one rarely prepares for something they, not only do not see, but actively try to will away. We should consider the possibilities and go over in our minds the various ways that events may play out. Yes, we should make our plans and enjoy the multiple blessings God has given but should always remember that life is transitory, that nations rise and fall, that tyrants arise and leaders are born out of necessity but not without nourishment in the womb. Our security is that nothing can befall us without God's permission and if there is a verse to dwell on in times like these it might be Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight. (Proverbs 3:5,6) The following blog starts off with my propensity to lose things and then, through diligent detective work, find them. In the past two days I lost my keys but found them in the yard, and I lost my cell phone charger but after exhausting all the possibilities at home determined that I must have dropped it in the parking lot at work when I set my bags down. The next morning it was still there. Yogi once said It ain't over till it's over and I would add, if you quit....it's over. November 2nd will only stop the leak. The water has yet to be bailed out of the bilge, the sails repaired and rudder freed from the moorings cast overboard in an effort to set speed records to reach the port of Progressivism.


I am very, very good at finding lost items. The reason is because I am so very proficient at losing things and thus have lots of experience. I will go to extraordinary lengths  to retrieve something I've lost. I bought an English pipe on a vacation to Europe in 1981 and promptly dropped it through an opening in front of the elevator door at work upon returning home. To this day, 29 years later, when I stand before that elevator, my lips curl up like Bill Murray's in Caddy Shack, as he ponders how to get that gopher. That pipe is probably petrified today but it doesn't matter. I recently switched cars with my son and dropped my money clip between the seat and the console, a very tight place. I retrieved it along with a metal bookmark that I had given him with a quote etched on it. The words read Never, never, never quit-Winston Churchill. One word, thrice repeated, does not sound very poetic but it does deliver the message. When utilized in the Bible, it means what it does today...extreme emphasis. I don't mean to sound trite but a saying like that needs pondering over, even meditating upon. Churchill's actual words delivered in October of 1941 were "Never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never, never, in nothing, great or small, large or petty, never give in, except to honor and good sense. Never yield to force. Never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy". I'm not talking about never giving up on a personal goal or desired vocation. Motivational speakers abound who do that. In my opinion, one of the most tragic mistakes that we have made is our judgement that man is basically good. The effort to ban all nuclear weapons is based on this, there is elements of it in the failure to acknowledge the legitimacy of the death penalty, and it even shows up in abortion as you have the fetus that is not a person, whose continued existence depends upon genuine persons who are generally good. The same principle of good people making their own decisions is in the same-sex marriage debate. Good people should trump laws in legalizing drugs and illegal immigration. Man is good and laws are neutral therefore, man trumps laws. Why be shackled to constitutions when man can make decisions as they arise? The biggest issue of all may be in our belief that mankind is good, placed under the dominion of a God, where His goodness is suspect to begin with. In reality, man is not good. Given the proper circumstance, rewards and (lack of ) punishments, he will cause havoc, pain and suffering. Should this be the case, would it not make sense to never, never, never quit on dealing with our own weaknesses and seeking Him who can not only give us the strength but give an impetus to live, at times, as though we were good?