QUITTING

“Every problem is an opportunity.” – Kilchiro Toyoda (founder of Toyota)

I loved this quote the first time I read it. Plus, any guy with “Yoda” in his name has to be wise. Hopefully he was not green. (Because it's not easy being green!) 

This quote about problems being an opportunity caught my attention because while I have experienced problems in my life, rarely have I thought of my problems as opportunities. Usually my problems seem impossible to overcome and make me feel discouraged and I want to quit. 

Quitting was not something I was allowed to do as a child. When I played sports, my parents would not allow me to quit until the season was finished. My parents always said that I would not have to sign up to play again next year, but I did have to finish what I started. That was the standard in our home. Allen’s are not quitters. 

Then came my Junior year of high school. I decided to test the family mantra because “2-A-Days” practices had begun for our high school football team. I’m pretty certain that “2-A-Days” have been outlawed by the Geneva Convention, however, “back when I was a boy,” these practices were how you enjoyed the month of August. 

“2-A-Days” were days filled with not just one, but two opportunities to practice football. This meant you were expected to be at the high school at 7 AM in order to be dressed and on the field precisely at 8am for morning practice. We were given an hour for lunch, and then our second practice of the day would continue from 1pm until 5pm. Thus, the name “2-A-Days” because we had two practices in one day. 

So, on Monday, August 1, 1994, at 7 AM, I arrived at the high school football locker room and prepared to begin the first practice of the season. 

During the same week football practice began, the high school week of church camp was taking place. I LOVED church camp. My friends were there. Church camp is a place I wanted to be. Sure, the spaghetti served on Tuesday night was questionable (and almost killed me one time), but I still loved being at church camp. 

So, after football practice, I would rush home to eat, change clothes, and then head over to the camp and stay there until after Midnight. Sometimes it would be after 1 AM when I would get home to go to bed. 

After a few days of staying out late at camp and running hard all day at football practice, I began to get tired. Finally, at lunch on Wednesday, I went to our head coach and said, “I am going to leave.” I knew if I left that I was done. There was no returning to join the team again that season. High school football in Bluefield, WV does not allow mulligans. 

I rationalized quitting because during my sophomore year our football team did not win a single game. The Bluefield Beavers went 0-10 for the first time ever in school history. So, it didn’t feel like I was leaving much behind. Besides, I really wanted to be at church camp. 

I drove home and told my parents I had quit the football team. To make a long story short, they were not happy with me. Thankfully, and mercifully, they let me go enjoy the final two days at church camp. 

After the week ended, I started to realize I had not made a good decision. I began to see why my parents did not allow my brother and me to quit teams and seasons we had begun. 

Adding insult to injury, our football team went on to have a great season. The season ended by losing a close game in the second round of the playoffs. I was there, but I had to pay for a ticket and watch from the stands. 

That was my Junior year, which meant I only had one more opportunity to be part of the football team. What would I do with my Senior year? 

I was determined not to quit. 

I started lifting weights. I began running and training myself to compete. I played on the high school baseball team just to be part of a team again. All of this was leading towards August, when practices would begin and my Senior year of football would commence. 

As much as I would love to continue talking about the “glory days” of high school football, I will spare you the details by simply saying: I did NOT quit. 

My Senior Football Pic

Were there times I wanted to quit? 

Absolutely. 

Did my coaches try to get me to quit? 

Yes. They pushed me. 

But I was determined not to quit again. 

I had learned the hard way that quitting my Junior year was not a good decision. I was determined I would not be a quitter.  

This caused some problems for me, but in the end, they were just opportunities to keep moving forward. 

Fast forward to May 6, 2001, and I am making comments near the end of my ordination service to go into the ministry. After I thanked my family and friends who encouraged and supported me, I shared the lesson I had learned from quitting football my Junior year. I boldly announced to the congregation that I would never quit ministry. 

Little did I know what would await me in the coming months and years. 

I had no way of knowing the problems and difficulties and heartbreaks and victories awaiting me on this journey. And while there were several times I wanted to quit (and sometimes I honestly still want to quit), I keep coming back to the lesson I learned from football… Never quit.  

I have no idea where this lands with you in your life. You may have already become bored with my story and clicked to another website. But I hope if you are continuing to read that you will use this as an opportunity to think about a problem you faced in your life where you did not make the best decision. 

And I hope instead of being a memory as to why you should give up again, I pray it will become an event that propels you to keep moving forward in life. 

Am I reading too much into a high school football story? 

Perhaps. 

But nothing in my life has pushed me forward more than remembering the painful lesson of quitting football my Junior year of high school. 

My life has not been a perfect journey since high school. In fact, I’ve had some major failures. But as I sit here writing this post, I am amazed at the way God has used all of these experiences to shape me into the person He calls me to be. 

One of the most comforting lessons I have learned is simply: 

God will not waste your pain. 

He really won’t. 

God will not waste your heartbreak.
God will not waste your addiction.
God will not waste your divorce.
God will not waste the loss of your loved one.
God will not waste the good times you enjoy.
God will not waste the nights you cannot sleep.
God will not waste the time you quit your high school football team.
God will not waste your pain. 

Only God can take those moments and work them out for our good. 

So, when you are tempted to give up, when the problems seem too big to overcome, just remember, every problem is an opportunity to discover who God called you to be. 

Don't quit.