Thomas Alva Edison made 1,000 unsuccessful attempts at inventing the light bulb. Can you imagine? How many of us try doing something and just after a few times quit? But he didn’t. He pushed through in believing that it can be done and believing in himself. He was not a mistake.

How about this quote from NBA legend Michael Jordan: “”I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life.” And did you know this about him: He wasn’t able to speak until he was almost 4 years old and his teachers said: “He would never amount to much” He was only 5-foot-10 back then and was cut from a basketball team at the Emsley A. Laney High School. He was not a mistake.

Christine Caine is a motivational speaker / evangelist with an amazing life story, one that I won’t attempt to share it all here, but the very short version – she was 33 years old when she found out that she was adopted. She was left in a hospital at birth, abused, neglected and more. More information on her journey can be found https://youtu.be/aIrwb3unP4A  and at https://christinecaine.com/   Christine Caine is not a mistake.

Walt Disney failed too. He experienced multiple failures, including one point at which his finances were in such a parlous state that he allegedly ate dog food to survive. His first studio, the Laugh-O-Gram Studio, lasted just two years before going bankrupt in 1923. Mr. Disney was not a mistake.

At the time when JK Rowling was writing what was to become the most popular children’s fiction series of all time, she was also at the lowest ebb of her life. Unemployed, she has described herself at that time as being as “poor as it is possible to be in modern Britain, without being homeless”. She had a young child who was dependent on her and who she was raising alone, and she was struggling with clinical depression. When she first submitted the manuscript of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone to publishing houses, no fewer than 12 of them rejected it. Even when Bloomsbury accepted the novel, Rowling was advised by her editor that she ought to get a day job, as she would not be able to earn enough from writing to support herself. JK Rowling is not a mistake.

Lady Gaga’s start in life was both privileged and troubled. Privileged, because her parents were wealthy and her talent nurtured; from the age of 11 she was given singing lessons by Christina Aguilera’s singing coach. Troubled, because this couldn’t spare her the relentless bullying that she faced at school. She was signed by a record label at 19, but they dropped her just three months later. No one seemed to be interested in her as an artist, though she found work writing songs for other artists including Britney Spears. Lady Gaga is not a mistake.

Each of these people and their stories could be seen as sad and or amazing. Each of them at one point in their life may have pondered “am I a mistake?” Or “why am I here?” They may have even thought about what the world would be like without them in it, maybe. I really don’t know if any of them thought about their lives in that way, but I assume so only based on many other stories I have read from “non famous” people. Maybe you have watched the movie It’s a Wonderful Life and watched as George wonders aloud about not being born… perhaps you have thought this as well, I know I have before.

Life is not easy. It doesn’t matter if you are born into wealth or poverty. It doesn’t matter if you are born in the USA, Canada or Russia. It doesn’t matter if you are brown, white or black. ALL of us will face issues and troubles. None of us escape it. But how we deal with these issues and these troubles helps to define and shape who we become and how we live.

I was born on this earth and really the only one that knows the reason(s) is my God. I cannot fully say that my parents “planned” for me 53 years ago, but here I am! Now I will add here that my mom referred to me at times as her “miracle baby.” You see after I was born my mom had multiple miscarriages, so she thought of me as a “miracle” and it also created this phrase: “my one and only mom / her one and only son.” Man, I miss hearing that from her right now. I don’t care how old you get to be, when you are walking through some junk in life, you want your mom, at least I do. I am not a mistake.

YOU, you are reading this. You made a decision to read my blogs (only God knows why!). You made a decision to go to work, eat food, go to school, do homework, go bowling, pray, read a book and so much more this past week. YOU are not a mistake. I don’t know what is “stacked against you.” I don’t know what odds you will overcome and what amazing things YOU will accomplish. But I know this, YOU are not a mistake. You might be at the lowest point of your life and are wondering “why me.” Or you might be at very high point in life and are wondering “is there more?” Either way I say KEEP pushing forward! Never for one moment believe you are alone and have to do something by yourself. You may not see it, but you are surrounded with people that can and will help you, if you ask. YOU are not a mistake.

Don’t let the bullies, the jealous, the envious, the media – anyone tell you or make you feel otherwise! YOU have a purpose, and YOU can overcome and do anything! – You are not a mistake.

Thanks for stopping by the fire,

Pastor Dennis