The Power of Perseverance Pays Positive Dividends – Part I

In the last few weeks I have been reminded that the power of perseverance in a legitimate pursuit will pay positive dividends for your life. In other words, performing the same reasonable activity at the best of your ability over a consistent period of time will eventually yield the best conceivable result.

Felix was a poor Irish-Latino boy who grew up fatherless in the ghetto streets of Los Angeles. Despite his difficult circumstances Felix dedicated his heart to make the most of his life. He worked hard in school and at an early age began taking odd jobs to help his mother make ends meet.

In 1960 at the age of 24 Felix went to work for a nationwide company that sold commercial dishwashers to restaurants. In order to acquire the position Felix had to take a route sales job with Dad’s Root Beer for one year to gain experience and prove that he had the mettle to cold call and develop business from scratch. Felix did well with Dad’s, so the commercial dishwashing company finally said yes. Felix did not disappoint them. Felix gave it everything he had and then some. Soon the company brass began to sit up and take notice of his ardent effort. That the officials of the company would take notice might be surprising because Felix was a fairly dark-skinned Irish and Latin American and the nationwide company was based in the South in Memphis, Tennessee. Due to the Civil Rights Movement, the sixties were a tumultuous time in the South and racial relations were strained at best. The Watts riots did not make interracial relationships any easier in Los Angeles. Bigots from the South and LA rarely saw a difference between dark Latinos and blacks.

In spite of the ethnic tensions, Felix’s unrelenting work ethic continued to impress his superiors and Felix began to climb the corporate ladder. First, he was promoted to manager of his local branch, then to another branch in San Diego. Finally after 20-something years he was moved to Memphis to become an executive vice president with the promised intention to be president when the then-current president retired. Felix’s dogged determination and perseverance had put him in a spot that no one could have imagined for this little Latino boy from the ghetto.

Unfortunately, when the president stepped down Felix was not chosen to replace him. And, two years after the new president took his seat; nearly 30 years after he began with the company, Felix was asked to leave. Not only so, in order to receive severance pay, Felix was made to sign a letter of no compete.

Obviously Felix was devastated. For the next several years he floundered and had difficulty finding his bearings. But Felix’s commitment to his family and his work ethic drove him on to overcome his daunting circumstances. Felix continued to persevere in the face of adversity.

As he searched for a new position most were reluctant to hire him. The only companies that would were commission only. In 1996, Felix was hired by an office furniture company specializing in refurbishing office cubicles and systems workstations. The pay was commission with an unforgiveable draw. This meant that each month if Felix did not sell anything the company would loan him a predetermined amount of money which he would have to pay back. After eight months, Felix was close to $8,000 in the whole. Felix did not quit. He kept pressing on, canvassing the local business complexes, cold calling, picking up cards of potential clients and making follow up calls. One day Felix’s perseverance paid off and the rest as they say is history.

When Felix started with the firm 12 years ago, he was the only sales staff in the fledgling organization of 10 or so employees. Today, mostly due to Felix’s hard work and perseverance, the enterprise has grown to more than 160 employees, and he has a six-figure income.

Felix’s life is an awesome example of the virtue of perseverance. Perseverance pays huge dividends.

The Power of Perseverance Pays Dividends - Part IIArticle Source: http://EzineArticles.com/1310276  

In the Power of Perseverance part one, I put forth the following premise: "Consistently performing a legitimate activity at the best of your ability will eventually yield a favorable result in your life." Felix is one example of the power of perseverance; Fred is another.

At 75, Fred's demeanor is betrayed by the cane he depends on. Hobbled some by a deteriorating back, Fred is a 5'7", 135lbs. ball of fire that few if any could contain. Fred first learned perseverance at the hands of some overstuffed farm boys in the back roads of the Pacific Northwest. Fred's dad took a pastorate in Eastern Washington State and nearly every day, the farm boys would bully little Fred on the way home from school. As they rode home together, the bigger boys would steal the shoes off Fred's feet and drop them out the window a mile from the bus stop. Each time Fred would walk back barefoot to get his shoes before starting the walk home. Little did the bullies know that with each extra step, Fred was being prepared for something even more harrowing.

After Fred graduated from college he too became a minister. In 1967 Fred and his wife moved to Long Beach, California where he took over as pastor of a small church. As Fred began to minister to the members of the congregation as well as the surrounding community, he saw that the demographics around the church were changing. What was once a fairly affluent white area was now becoming a predominantly black neighborhood. Naturally, Fred began to reach out to his new constituency. Fred began inviting the African American members of the community to join the activities of the church. Unfortunately, the white members of the group became restless and uncomfortable with Fred's new outreach. At the end of his first year, the elders declined to renew his call.

Fred was devastated by the congregation's actions. But, as he and his wife packed up to leave town, a black police officer searched out Fred and put the screws to him. The young officer reminded Fred that he had made a commitment to take up the plight of the black community. He made Fred consider the positive impact he was having with the disenfranchised and marginalized on the streets of Long Beach. Fred wanted desperately to continue the work but he did not have any church backing and he did not have an income to support his family. One member of his old congregation decided to support Fred and Fred began a parachurch organization called Inner City Ministries.

Through Inner City Ministries this scrawny, little white man reached out to the hardest of the hard and the lowest of the low. Fred would go often into the proverbial lion's den to stick his boney little finger into the faces of serious drug dealers and pimps, calling them out of their life of drugs and shame to point them in a new direction. Once Fred had a pistol placed to the side of his head. Just about every day he endured disgust and misunderstanding from the white and black communities alike. Yet Fred continued to drive on; he continued to persevere.

In 1968, Fred began an annual camping program through which he takes 150 or so youth from Compton, Los Angeles, Long Beach and other surrounding areas to a place called Quaker Meadow. In that place young people's lives have been changed forever. Ushered away from the day-to-day madness of the concrete jungle, these inner city youth learn that they are special and that God has a special plan for their lives.

Many times over the years the powers that be have tried to shut down Fred and his operation. Yet through dogged determination and perseverance Fred has weathered the storm. One year Fred was ready to retire, to call it quits, but on the way to the summer camp tragedy struck. One bus went careening over the side of the hill killing two of the young people inside. Fred, feeling a deep sense of responsibility, decided he could not leave. Instead, he walked humbly by the side of the parents and loved ones of the deceased youth until they had at least some measure of peace and comfort in their hearts.

Today, Fred continues his crusade for the destitute and downtrodden. He continues to persevere in the fight to bring sanity to the lives of the harassed and helpless on the streets of Long Beach. After 40 years Fred has reconciled with the old church that kicked him out and is presiding over a new church called the Basement Church which reaches out to a crowd primarily made up of homeless folk. Fred's ministry is growing stronger and he is having a deeper impact on the lives of the broken making a positive difference in their lives.

Fred's perseverance has, is and will continue to pay both temporal and eternal dividends in the inner city of Long Beach. The power of perseverance will pay positive dividends in your life, too.