There was a once a story of two men who were digging for gold. They dug about ten feet and gave up and threw away their shovels two feet before reaching the gold. All records indicated the gold being there, so another man came along and dug two feet more and became filthy rich.
The idea of “never giving up” contrasts starkly with the “power of letting go”, which is equally pertinent to our lives. Sometimes, holding on to losing battles can keep us from realizing our full potentials.
But when we know our cause is right and God is on our side, we should never give up!
One fine evening, a few years back, I drove my motorcycle over to a client’s house to repair the family computer. The computer had needed to be reprogrammed. I parked the motorcycle outside, took out the keys but didn’t lock the handle. What was the sense of locking the handle? Would someone come along and hotwire the bike and ride away? Slim chance, but that’s exactly what happened.
As the software loaded and the progress bar inched slowly across on the computer screen, I heard a bike start. It sounded very much like my bike, but it sounded as though it was started about fifty meters away from where I left it. Well what did you think Einstein? The perpetrators would not roll the bike a good distance away before starting it and taking off?
I just sat there working on the computer. In this friendly neighborhood, in my home county where I have parked my bike for hours everywhere and came back and found it untouched, I just didn’t think that this could happen: that it was being stolen as I sat there.
I finally finished fixing the computer and came out. Surprise, surprise…the bike was gone.
Half panicking, I called my friend Neil Lewis, and the client whose computer I was fixing called some of his friends with a sense of urgency. They came along quickly with their motorcycles and cars.
It had been over half an hour since the thieves had taken off with the bike, but these guys blazed the trail behind them. Their cars and bikes radiated in every direction. If the thieves had taken a straight road, they would be almost impossible to catch. But most likely, the thieves would be looking for hideouts in streets, not wanting to be stopped by the police patrols.
About one hour later, my friends returned from the chase, one of them riding back with my motorcycle. They had picked up a sound and chased the thieves through a street where they cornered them. The thieves then dropped the bike and disappeared into an alleyway.
When the boys returned with the bike, my friend Neil Lewis said to me “count your blessings, most of the time, we’re not this lucky”. And while I don’t doubt that I’m a blessed guy, I responded, “I wouldn’t say blessings, I would say men who don’t give up”
Indeed, these gallant lads didn’t desist from the chase until they brought the bike back for me. Sometimes in life, we have to give up and let go, but remember, when your cause is right, you must be able to look into the sky and say honestly: Heavenly Father, You’ve seen that there was nothing else I could have possibly done! 🙂
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