ONLINE CHURCH BULLETIN

A CHAMPION

Consider Sylvester Stallone and his phenomenal success. As a child, Stallone was frequently beaten by his father and told he had no brains. He grew up lonely and confused. He was in and out of various schools. An advisor at Drexel University told him that, based on aptitude testing, he should pursue a career as an elevator repair-person. He decided to pursue acting, but abnormal life led to one failure after an-other. He remained determined to learn his chosen craft and used his failure to try his hand at writing. After watching Muhammad Ali fight Chuck Wepner, a relatively unknown fighter who went the distance against the champion, Stallone was inspired to write the script for Rocky—in less than four days. As Vince Lombardi said, "It's not whether you get knocked down. It's whether you get up again." Five Rockys later, Stallone is a champion....of determination (cf. Galatians 6:9).

—Harvey MacKay
Pushing the Envelope