Training Your Strength of Character

For those of you celebrating Easter, I hope you had an outstanding weekend. We most certainly did! We were doubly blessed by the celebration and service of the day and also because our son was baptized Sunday morning. It was particularly special for our family.

Stemming from that baptism I’d like to discuss the importance of strength of character. Now my son IS a character to begin with. He is extremely inquisitive, always has to know how and why everything works, will engage anyone in conversation and has a tendency to speak like an adult when discussing things. He also has a flair for the dramatic and quick with a great comeback. He’s also easily embarrassed and probably his number one fear is doing something wrong in front of a group of people and having them laugh at him.

This is something we have discussed at length trying to overcome. I have told him time and time again that absolutely everyone, including mom and dad makes mistakes. There is no reason to be embarrassed or feel self-conscious in front of anyone, ever. It’s a crippling personality trait that can cause you to recoil in fear from doing things which you may be great at or cause you to live your life with no flavor or passion.

Sunday morning we had two baptisms. One teen from our youth group, whom I was especially proud of to see him take that step in his life, and Noah. Joey went first and then it was Noah’s turn. At one point in the church’s history the steps down into the baptismal were textured to prevent slipping. One day someone got the bright idea to paint them with latex paint thus making them slippery when wet. Well since it’s a baptismal pool, they tend to pretty much STAY wet.

As Joey turned to walk up the stairs, there was a moment of silence as our pastor motioned for Noah to come down. The preacher stood there for a few moments waiting. The church was so quiet you could have heard a pin drop. We were filming of course and what is heard on tape next was much louder than a pin. There was halted, “WHOA!” from behind the wall and next came a “sploosh,” sound. The choir was sprinkled, the pastor was rained on and Noah fell into the pool from the top steps.

The church broke out in a roar of laughter, the preacher was trying to maintain his composure and we sat wondering if Noah would actually emerge and complete his baptism… and much to our joy he did. Already completely soaked he swam his way over to the pastor and stood before him. The pastor said, “And with a very dramatic entrance here we have Noah Jeffries.”
Noah maintained his composure, answered all the questions asked, and received his baptism. We were very proud of him, not just for the baptism, but in knowing his personality, what it took for him to still stand before everyone and complete his task at hand.

Afterwards after my wife asked him if he was alright, he told her, “Yeah I’m fine. I just remembered what Daddy said about it not being any big deal and that everyone makes mistakes. I figured it was more important what I was doing than everybody laughing at me. I can’t be the first person who ever fell in.”

Okay, so I personally have never seen anyone else fall in, that doesn’t mean he isn’t right. None the less, there is great importance in this instance. He conquered a fear at a pinnacle moment. That took great strength of character. He came another step closer to being a man and his life will be all the better for it.

So what’s your fear?

What are you doing to overcome it?

Strength does not just lie in muscle, tendons, ligaments and bone people. There is strength far beyond that and when you tackle life head-on, you hone it to a diamond-tough consistency. THAT strength helps you to perform better, enjoy this amazing life more, and accomplish things that truly let you feel you are alive and not just existing. It’s that same passion and drive that you can apply to any area of life be it powerlifting, strongman events, endurance training, martial arts, work, family, fun or any pursuit in which you want to be a success.

So what’s it gonna be folks? It’s time to belly-up to the proverbial bar of life and make your choice.


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