YOU’VE COME TOO FAR TO ONLY COME THIS FAR.
We all have our battles.
We all have our struggles.
We all want to quit from time to time.
But it is so important that we see things through to the end.
One of my favorite movies growing up was RUDY.
Rudy is a sports movie based on the real-life character Rudy Ruettiger.
It is the story of an undersized football player who dreamt of playing college football for University of Notre Dame Fighting Irish.
He grew up in a tough city where most of the men only had one career option of working in the local steel mill when high school was over.
But Rudy had different aspirations.
Rudy wanted to be a Notre Dame Football Player.
The story goes, Rudy is admitted to a small junior college near Notre Dame. While he is there, he gets a job working on the maintenance crew for Notre Dame and also discovers he has a learning disability. With the help of a friend and tutor, Rudy battles to overcome dyslexia, studies hard to get his grades up, and eventually gets accepted to transfer to Notre Dame and has the opportunity to be a member of the practice squad for the football team.
Insane odds.
Overwhelming odds.
But he was determined. He was disciplined. He was faithful.
He kept pushing. He was driven.
Rudy faced all kinds of adversity. He wasn’t big enough, he didn’t have the money, he didn’t have the grades, he had a learning disability, etc.
Is that where the story ends?
NOPE.
Rudy wants to play at least one game as a Fighting Irish football player. The last game of the year comes and the roster is posted. And he isn’t on the roster.
So, do you know what the hard-working, disciplined, dedicated, and resilient Rudy does?
HE QUITS
That’s right.
He had fought and fought and fought.
He battled struggle after struggle, hardship after hardship, failure after failure, only to quit.
Luckily, he runs into one of the members of the maintenance staff that shares his personal story of being a football player and he is able to show Rudy that he cannot quit.
“In this life, you don't have to prove nothin' to nobody but yourself. And after what you've gone through, if you haven't done that by now, it ain't gonna never happen. Now go on back.”
Rudy had come so far!
Rudy had gone through so much!
Rudy had already endured trials and tribulations.
He had come so far, too far to turn back now.
He goes back to the team; he goes back to finish what he started.
After some support from his teammates and coaches, Rudy gets his roster spot, gets a chance to enter the game, and records a sack on the quarterback.
He was solidified as a Notre Dame Fighting Irish Football player for eternity.
The crazy thing about the story is that Rudy had been battling for a long time. Not just days or weeks or months.
He had been in the fight for years and then he almost quit a week before he achieved his goal.
How tragic had it have been if Rudy quit before the miracle happened? No one outside of the Fighting Irish world would know his name.
What does this mean for us?
It means that sometimes our motivation will evaporate.
It means that sometimes our minds will become overwhelmed.
It means that sometimes our bodies will want to give out on us.
But if you are struggling, if you are fighting, if you are in pain, if you are ready to quit…
You might be one more push away from achieving your goal.
You are already feeling pain…it is time to get a reward from it.
Tell your support team what’s happening.
Tell your closest people you want to quit.
Tell people what is happening.
But Don’t Quit.
Get support. Let others speak truth into your life. Let others carry you when you think you have nothing more.
And remember:
