{"id":1456,"date":"2023-03-04T15:05:45","date_gmt":"2023-03-04T15:05:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/martymachowski.com\/?p=1456"},"modified":"2023-03-05T01:26:24","modified_gmt":"2023-03-05T01:26:24","slug":"falling-isnt-failure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/martymachowski.com\/falling-isnt-failure\/","title":{"rendered":"Falling Isn\u2019t Failure"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-1462\" src=\"https:\/\/martymachowski.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/Man-that-Fell-on-Desert-Struggling.jpeg\" alt=\"Man walking alone in the sunny desert. He is lost and out of breath. No water and energy.\" width=\"445\" height=\"297\" srcset=\"https:\/\/martymachowski.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/Man-that-Fell-on-Desert-Struggling.jpeg 724w, https:\/\/martymachowski.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/Man-that-Fell-on-Desert-Struggling-300x200.jpeg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 445px) 100vw, 445px\" \/>Dad, have you ever felt like a failure for skipping your family\u2019s devotions \u2013 for a week? A month? A year? If you are like me, you get excited about a great new devotional book or plan and sprint out of the starting gate. Remember, all the horses in a derby run together for the first ten lengths. But, as the race goes on, the jockeys in the back give up trying to win. That\u2019s what happened to me. I\u2019d jump in with both feet, but then the busyness of my schedule or simple forgetfulness would slice my tires. Like a challenger in a heavy-weight fight, I\u2019d get clocked and find myself down on the canvas.<\/p>\n<p>Neven Pajkic was the first boxer to knock Tyson Fury to the canvas with a solid right to the face. What did Fury do? He got back up again and knocked his opponent out in the very next round. Fury fell, but he did not stay down. That is what we dads need to do with our family devotions. If you are flat on your face with the canvas rubbing your cheek raw, get back up and fight. Don\u2019t stay down for the ten-count.<\/p>\n<p>Solomon gave this advice to his boys \u201ca righteous man falls seven times, and rises again,\u201d (Proverbs 24:16 NASB). Notice in Solomon\u2019s proverb that the man who falls and gets up again is called righteous \u2013 even after falling seven times. That doesn\u2019t make you a failure the eighth time you fall. Solomon said getting up is always the right thing to do \u2013 even after the tenth time. So, here is my advice for all you dads that want to do family devotions but are not: get up off the canvas! Remember, only those who refuse to get up will truly fail.<\/p>\n<p>If you are wondering what to do and how to do it, don\u2019t worry. I\u2019ve written many family devotionals for guys like me who don\u2019t have time to figure out what to do. My books <a href=\"https:\/\/newgrowthpress.com\/christian-books\/devotionals-books\/long-story-short-ten-minute-devotions-to-draw-your-family-to-god\/?aff=3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Long Story Short<\/a> (Old Testament) and <a href=\"https:\/\/newgrowthpress.com\/christian-books\/devotionals-books\/old-story-new-ten-minute-devotions-to-draw-your-family-to-god\/?aff=3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Old Story New<\/a> (New Testament) provide plug-and-play devotions for your family that only take ten minutes to complete.<\/p>\n<p>Get a copy of one of my books and set it next to where you sit at dinner time. Then, plan to open it up and read it after your meal; before your dessert. Buy a carton or two of ice cream and follow this simple equation for family devotion success \u2013 dinner, devotions, dessert -in that order.<\/p>\n<p>Over time you\u2019ll go through a lot of ice cream and potentially gain a few pounds, but you will disciple your kids in the process. And as for falling, don\u2019t worry. With ice cream on the line, your kids are sure to remind you when you forget.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dad, have you ever felt like a failure for skipping your family\u2019s devotions \u2013 for a week? A month? A year? If you are like me, you get excited about a great new devotional book or plan and sprint out of the starting gate. Remember, all the horses in a derby run together for the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1462,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[39,38],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Falling Isn\u2019t Failure - Marty Machowski<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/martymachowski.com\/falling-isnt-failure\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Falling Isn\u2019t Failure - Marty Machowski\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Dad, have you ever felt like a failure for skipping your family\u2019s devotions \u2013 for a week? 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