What happened next is nothing less than a miracle. Warner passed for 4,353 yards, and 41 touchdowns. Warner was named the most valuable player in the National Football League and led his team to the Super Bowl. In the Super Bowl, Warner led the Rams to a 23-16 win over Tennessee with a 73 yard touchdown pass to Isaac Bruce with less that a minute to play in the game. Because of his performance, Kurt Warner was named Super Bowl most valuable player. Where many would have given up on the dream, Kurt Warner persevered.

Athletic Principle

Webster defines persistence as steady perseverance, tenacity unyeilding, holding on in following a course of action in spite of difficulties, a long-continuing application which requires endurance. It is not easy to persist, it is tough work, most times it entails a struggle that requires endurance. Consider the story of John Stephen Akhawari.

At 7:00 pm on October 20, 1968, only a few thousand spectators remained in the Mexico City Olympic Stadium. It was almost dark. The last of the marathon runneres were stumbling across the finish line.

Finally, outside of the stadium, the spectators could hear the wail of sirens coming from a group of police cars. As necks turned and eyes penetrated to the gate of the track, a lone runner wearing the colors of Tanzania staggered into the stadium. His name was John Stephan Akhawari. Akhawari was the last contestant to finish the 26.2 mile race. His leg had been injured in a fall. He was bloodied and crudely bandaged. He hobbled the final lap of the race around the track.

The crowd still seated in the Olympic Stadium, rose to their feet and applauded him as if he were the gold medal champion. After Akhawari crossed the finish line, someone asked him why he had not quit the race. Akhawari replied simply, "My country did not send me 7,000 miles to start the race. They send me 7,000 miles to finish it."

"Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never - in nothing, great or small, large or petty - never give in except in to the convictions of honor and good sense. Never give in." - Sir Winston Churchill

God has a principle called the Law of Perseverance. It is critical to success in life. Certain risks go with new life and growth - the risks of freedom, you might say, but God prepares us for those risks through perseverance and struggle, building our strength for each new phase. To refuse to struggle is to stand still, to stagnate, to quit.

Perseverance and persistance can easily be seen in the simple story of the chicken and the egg. The baby chick, approaching full life, finds himself in a nice, safe environment. Soon however, the chick becomes aware of the shell keeping him safe and comfortable is also confining him. The chick becomes restricted. So the chick begins pecking at the shell. He pecks and pecks, working very hard, gaining strength hour by hour through the struggle. Before long, the chick has attained the strength and the endurance to cope with a new environment and breaks through the shell. The chick continues to peck and soon he is free, ready for a new level of life.

People have tried to help little chicks speed up the process by cracking or peeling the shell away to help opening it for them. With this help the chicks are unable to handle the new environment and they die. Athletes, like chicks need to struggle, the strain to survive as well.

God slowly yields the good things to us and to the world to those who struggle. Jacob wrestled all night with an angel and refused to let go until the angel blessed him (Genesis 32:22-19). Abraham waited one hundred years before he received Isaac, the child of promise (Genesis 15:1-6, 21:1-3). God uses the struggle, the strain, the endurance to develop us into the people he wants us to become. In the New Testament book of James we read:

God also tells us that there is a reward for hanging in there during the tough times.