Book Review Wednesday: "Finishing Strong" by Steve Farrar

I'm reading the book "Finishing Strong" by Steve Farrar, I have read it some years back but while in the bookshop I stumbled on it (I gave my previous copy out to a friend who seized it..lol) and so I bought another copy, intending to give it to hubby. I saw it on the dresser yesterday and i picked it up and started to read, I read this poem and it struck a chord.

If you're like me, you've been to the place of "failure" on several occasions, that place where you just want to give up and walk away from that dream that looms higher than you, if you're in that place now, I pray you get to read this poem and be encouraged to keep on moving on, no matter how hard. It tells the story of a boy in a race and how he fell three times but because of his father cheering him on in the stands he got up each time and continued the race.

Maybe you don't have anyone cheering you on and you feel its not worth it, lemme be that voice cheering you on today...go ahead and keep running...life is not a 100yard dash, but a marathon, its not about how fast you finished...its that you did finish.

THE RACE

Defeat, he lay there silently 

A tear dropped from his eye 
There's no sense running anymore 
Three strikes, I'm out, why try? 

The will to rise had disappeared 
All hope had fled away 
So far behind so error prone 
A loser all the way 

"I've lost, so what", he thought 
I'll live with my disgrace 
But then he thought about his dad 
Whom soon he'd have to face 

"Get up" the echo sounded low 
"Get up" and take your place 
You were not meant for failure here 
"Get up", and win the race 

With borrowed will "Get up" it said 
"You haven't lost at all" 
For winning is no more than this 
To rise each time you fall 

So up he rose to run once more 
And with a new commit 
He resolved, that win or lose 
At least he shouldn't quit 

So far behind the others now 
The most he'd ever been 
Still he'd give it all he had 
And run as though to win 

Three times he'd fallen, stumbling 
Three times he'd rose again 
Too far behind to hope to win 
He still ran to the end 

They cheered the winning runner 
As he crossed the line first place 
Head high and proud and happy 
No falling, no disgrace 

But when the fallen youngster 
Crossed the line, last place 
The crowd gave him the greater cheer 
For finishing the race 

And even though he came in last 
With head bent low, unproud 
You would have thought he'd won the race 
To listen to the crowd 

And to his dad he sadly said 
"I didn't do too well" 
"To me you won", his father said 
"You rose each time you fell" 

by D. H. Groberg

PS: For the sake of the length i cut off a few verses, i hope the message still got across...click on the link below to read more about the book.

http://waterbrookmultnomah.com/pdf/SneakPeek_FinishingStrong.pdf