What really makes a person a winner?  What makes them a champion?  Can the secret really be found in a bowl of cereal, a bottle of vitamin water, or the right pair of expensive athletic shoes?

Maybe some people are just born with the innate tools to be winners.  They simply have more natural athletic ability, or a higher IQ, or happened to wake up just as the full moon aligned with some distant planet and dumped a wave of good fortune on their doorstep . Let's face it, maybe some people are just born winners.

If that's true, does that also mean that some people are born losers?  Are some people destined to fail, no matter what?  An Old Testament prophet named Amos talked about a man who fled from a lion, only to run into a bear! He somehow managed to escape the bear and make it safely into the house...where he was promptly bitten by a snake!

Be honest, have you ever felt snake-bitten? Ever felt like every door was slammed in your face, and all the odds were against you (...excuse me, make that ARE against you)?  You so badly wanted to win, but all you could manage to do was lose...and lose...and lose?

People like the Apostle Paul give us hope. He was imprisoned unjustly, and put on a vessel with a bunch of other criminals to be shipped to Rome. While on the ship, they went days without eating and were caught in a horrible storm that eventually destroyed the ship. Somehow, Paul made it safely to the shore of a remote island. He began gathering sticks and wood to build a fire, and (wouldn't you know it), a viper came out of the woodpile and bit him on the arm! The Bible actually says the snake "fastened itself to him".

Snake-bitten. Can't win--for losing.  But here's where the story gets interesting. The viper that bit Paul was extremely venomous, and the natives who saw the whole thing expected him to fall over dead any minute. But he didn't. Not only did he not fall over dead, but he calmly walked over to the fire (with the snake still hanging from his arm), and shook the snake off into the fire!

Here's the lessons to learn from this, for those who have been snake-bitten in life.

1. Don't panic. When we get excited and panic, it makes our heart beat faster and the venom is circulated throughout our body faster.  Paul remained calm, and in doing so he kept the venom from reaching his heart and killing him. When things get really bad, remain calm.

2. Shake it off.  Paul didn't listen to the villagers or give in to their expectations to die--he shook the snake off. And he didn't just throw the snake back into the brush, he shook it off into the fire, so he wouldn't have to deal with that snake again. Don't listen to all the doomsayers around you--you can survive your setback. You can shake it off, but make sure you deal with it in a way that it doesn't keep coming back at you.

3. Remember your purpose. During this entire ordeal, Paul felt that he had a god-given call to give his testimony before the Roman Emperor. That thought kept him going, in spite of all the obstacles. In the end, he did speak before the emperor at Rome. He fulfilled his purpose in spite of incredible odds.

One person's road to achievement may be marked with more detours or obstacles than someone else's, but rest assured...no one is a born loser--or a born winner. Winning and losing are both by-products of a greater work that takes place during the journey.

The prize is not whether we win or we lose; it's what we become in the process.

©Carl Prude, 2013

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