Many years ago when the Baltimore Ravens were the Baltimore Colts I saw them play the Houston Oilers in a thrilling exhibition game. The score seesawed back and forth until, with one minute and 15 seconds left to play, the Oilers got the ball and methodically moved down the field to score and go ahead. Only 30 seconds were left when they kicked off and it looked as if they had the game sewed up. The Colts ran three plays and wound up on their own 45-yardline. Then, with three seconds left in the game, the Colts stunned everyone by scoring on a 55-yard pass and winning the game! The Colts won because they refused to give up. They kept trying until the last play. That’s the mark of true greatness.
Winston Churchill had it right. He returned on one occasion to Harrow, the boys’ school that he had attended when he was just a lad. As the date for his return to the school and his speaking engagement approached, the headmaster of the school said to the students, “Boys, I want you to bring your pencils and paper when you listen to Mr. Churchill, for he is the greatest living Englishman, and you will want to write down what he has to say so you can tell your children and your grandchildren. It will be an immortal speech.” The day for Churchill’s speech came, and as he stood and looked at that audience of boys, perhaps his mind went back across the years when he had been in that school—a stuttering, unpromising young man. He looked out into the faces of those boys, bright with expectation concerning the future, optimistic about tomorrow, and he thought about all of the hardships, difficulties, and trials they were going to face. He pulled his glasses down on his nose, and this is the sum total of what he said in his speech:
“Never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never.”
And ... he sat down. And he left in their minds a speech that they would never forget.
In football, in business, even in the Christian life, stickability is essential to success. Jesus said, “The one who endures to the end will be saved” (Matthew 24:13 ESV). In all of life, never give up. Keep on trying. That is the way to victory.