1 John 4 19 We love because He first loved us.
Colonel Sanders, a seventh grade dropout was a rough and tough cookie. He faked his age at 16 and joined the US Army. He got fired three times from jobs and from law college for his freaky frenzy and bad temper. However, the resilient Sanders established Kentucky Fried Chicken at the age of 65 years. Sanders finally sold the company for two million dollars ($15.3 million today). When Sanders died at the age of 90, there were 6,000 KFC locations in 48 countries. Today there are more than 25,000 KFC restaurants in over 145 countries around the world. Resilience turns sorry-tales and sad-stories into success-stories.
Many give up at the first knockdown. Proverbs 24:16 The Godly may trip seven times, but they will get up again. But one disaster is enough to overthrow the wicked. There are many ambitious nerds who think big but act silly. Success is not final and failure is not fatal, it is the resilience to continue that counts. The ministry of Jesus was centred around reconnecting and restoring the rejected, outcasts and the forbidden, into the family of God. He took a detour to meet a divorcee who had been discarded five times and was living in an illicit relationship (John 4). The casual conversation with Jesus reinstated resilience and turned the gypsy into a Gospel preacher.
Resilience is the energy that turns sad-stories into a success-stories:
1. Rejection: The fried chicken “secret recipe” of Sanders was rejected 1,009 times before it was coined as “Kentucky Fried Chicken”. Resilience found Sanders a place among the pantheons of “esteemed entrepreneurs”. The words of Jesus rebuilt resilience into this woman who was rejected five times by men who should have protected her. Rejection by society, culture or even family depletes confidence and deflates courage. God’s word is the tonic that rebuilds resilience and turns rejections into successions.
2. Regret: After many failures of being fired for fighting at the workplace, Sanders at the age of 40 started selling chicken dishes but got into a crazy argument with a competitor which resulted in a deadly shootout! Just as his dream was coming into fruition, he was kicked back with frustration. Those who suffer rejection are locked by the chains of regret but not Sanders. He did not give up frying chicken even at the age of retirement. A man is not old until his regret takes the place of his dreams. The Samaritan chick on the other hand rebounded as an evangelist after the encounter with Jesus. God’s restoration plans breaks the bars of age and barriers of regret.
3. Repression: Sanders was fired from multiple jobs, ruined his legal career, suffered the setbacks of the Great Depression and World War II, yet he launched one of the largest fast food chains in the world. The Samaritan woman, an outcast, who could not even draw water with the girls of the town, ostracised and blacklisted by her own community became the bearer of the GoodNews of Jesus Christ. Resilience defeats repression. When life knocks you down, pick up the promises of God; get up and keep going.
It is never too late to build the muscle of resilience and turn our setbacks into success stories.
Galatians 6:9 “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”
Prayer: Jesus, when life is harsh, help me to resuscitate, recuperate and build up my resilience in You. With You, I can rebound from any hit backs. Amen
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