Man in the Arena

"It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat."

Theodore Roosevelt

"Citizenship in a Republic,"
Speech at the Sorbonne, Paris, April 23, 1910

I know many of you are going through alot right now as I am and I think this quote really sums it up for us. Yes, we have known loss and defeat. Yes we will fall and be beaten and bruised. Sometimes our pain will come from others and sometimes by our own mistakes. However, it is in the risks that we take and the passion we carry that seperates those who watch and critisize from those who are fighting.  I get tired of falling, I get tired of picking gravel out of my teeth but the victory is worth it. Every face, every heart changed is worth every ounce of pain.I would have rather died loosing a battle than died sitting in the stands tearing apart those who are fighting the good fight. We aren't perfect.. we are just warriors fighting for the only cause worth dying for.

Now.. go serve your KING