LIFE IS A BOXING RING, 3: WHEN DISASTER STRIKES REPEATEDLY 2

"You can't live someone else's expectations in life. It's a recipe for disaster." - Bear Grylls

Boxing Ring

Well said, Bear Grylls. Isn't it true how much people expect you to "do this, or that" in the face of the different challenges of your life? Some expect that, since there's so much trouble coming at you since you made that decision to marry that guy, or take that job, or even give God that money, that it's a sign that God is against your decision. They forget that, facing troubles after a decision isn't a sign that you decided wrongly. Neither is everything going smoothly a sign that God is with you. The Israelites were to be made free by an instruction from God, but that didn't stop them from receiving the heat from Pharaoh!

George was destined to spend the next three falls seasons in the hospital. In 1948, it was after he stepped on a rusty nail. In 1949, it was tonsillitis, just before he was to sing in an audition for Phil Harris, a great orchestra leader and radio comedy icon. And in 1950, it was third-degree burns over 40 percent of his body and collapsed lungs. After an explosion had set George’s body on fire, my brother Alan put the flames out by throwing himself on George. Alan had saved his brother’s life, but he received serious burns himself. Following each challenge, George came back stronger and surer of his own ability to overcome any obstacle. He had read that if one looks at the roadblocks, he isn’t looking at the goal.
Armed with these gifts, he entered the world of show business and revolutionized television by creating and producing such innovative shows as Laugh In and The American Comedy Awards. He also won an Emmy for his production of Sammy Davis Jr.’s 60th Anniversary Celebration Special. He had literally been through the furnace and come out of it with a soul as strong as steel, and he used it to strengthen and entertain a nation. Of course, the four of us didn’t always get a long, but we were brothers through and through, and yet…out of the conflicts came new respect and even memories about which we would later laugh.

It was John D. Rockefeller that said, "I always tried to turn every disaster into an opportunity." Yes, see every disaster, every punch in your face, every bursted lip in the ring of life, as yet another stone at your fruitful life. See it as another opportunity to try again. The devil can only throw stones at you, but do not allow him stop you from producing those juicy fruits. Your life is about something. You're somebody's saviour, don't let them perish. Be like George this morning, tell the devil, "go to hell." your life is about something.