The Little Wrestler Who Could

A skinny kid from West Texas who attended a small high school had a big passion for wrestling. One day he asked one of the coaches if he would enter him in some of the region's wrestling matches.

The coach agreed to help the kid. This little guy was neither strong nor skillful, but he had one inspiring quality--he refused to give up. All the skinny kid's friends kept telling him to quit, to stop, and to use common sense, but the kid ignored all the criticism and kept on training and practicing. His first match comes, he wins it. He then wins his second match, his third match, his fourth match, his fifth match, his sixth match, etc. He won every wrestling match because he tenaciously held on to his opponents and wore them down.

By the end of the season, he was undefeated and made it to the state finals for his weight classification. The kid's opponent was a two-time state champ and a top college prospect. As the skinny kid faced the state champion, the guy made a couple of quick moves and soon had the West Texas kid on his back and about to get pinned.

However, the two-time state champ decided to have some fun. Releasing his opponent and pushing him to the ground. "Do you know who I am?" exclaimed the two-time state champ. The skinny kid choosing to ignore him gets back up. Shocked at what happened, the two-time state champ super kicks the kid back to the ground. "Do you not know who I am? I am your reigning, defending, undisputed two-time state champ!!!" exclaimed the champ. The skinny kid gets back up. The frustrated champion put the skinny kid in a headlock and was about to finish him.

The coach knew his athlete was about to lose, and he couldn't bear to watch it, so he turned his head away. Suddenly, the coach heard the roar of the crowd, and when he turned around, his kid was on top of the state champ, pinning him. He had won the match!

The little guy bounced across the mat and hugged the coach, and said, "Coach, I won! I won!" The coach said, "Sure, son. But I missed it. I turned away just before you were about to lose. What happened?"

The kid said, "Coach, that guy was good. He had me twisted like a pretzel on that mat. But you know me, coach. I NEVER quit. I refused to give up! So I opened my eyes, and there in front of my face was his big toe. I don't even know if it's against the rules or not, but I bit into that big toe with all my strength and coach. It's amazing what you can do when you bite your opponent's toe!"

The moral of the story is never to give up. Refuse To Quit. 2 Timothy 4:7 says, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” Throughout his ministry, Paul used the picture of the race and the Christian being an athlete running that race. He knew his race was finished. Paul is saying that throughout his entire time of serving Jesus. He refused to quit. Maybe you are failing a class, perhaps you are having relationship problems, or maybe you are struggling with procrastination. How are you going to respond? Are you going to get back up and keep going, or are you going to quit? To quote John Cena, “no matter how great the setback, how severe the failure, you never give up. You pick yourself up, you brush yourself off, you push forward, you move on, you adapt, you overcome. That is what I believe.”

(Original illustration on https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/79840/endurance-by-sermon-central)