"Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas" - by Rev. Weldon Bares

The race between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas in 1858 for the United States Senate was one of the hardest fought in the history of our country. Lincoln was the Republican Party candidate and Stephen Douglas was the incumbent senator from the Democratic Party.

The campaign had a series of famous debates between the two men. In fact, they had seven debates between August to October of 1858 with several thousand people in attendance. The main issue of the debates was slavery.

On election day, it was raining and cold. It was a close race. The winner was Stephen Douglas.

As Lincoln walked home later that night, he slipped on the wet ground and nearly fell in the mud. When he recovered his balance, he quickly thought of the similarity between that experience and his big disappointment that day.

He said to himself, “It’s a slip, not a fall.” He was absolutely right. Two years later Abraham Lincoln was elected the sixteenth president of United States.

Here is the truth. Failure does not have to be final. A real winner is somebody who gets up and perseveres. A winner is somebody who simply keeps on going.

May the words of the Apostle Paul strengthen us today: “This one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and pressing forward to what lies ahead.” (Philippians 3:13)

Don’t give up!