From Pastor Ted Hambrick: "Can't Never Could Do Nothing!: 

I think it was determined early in my educational experience that I wasn't going to be a rocket scientist. I had a problem staying with the task long enough to learn the material. I was quick to say, "I can't." My older brother Bobby frequently tried to help me. When he would hear me say, "I can't," he would say, "Can't never could do nothing." It's bad grammar, but the principle was true. When you say, "I can't," what you're really saying is: "I give up!"

I haven't quite figured out this "getting old" thing. I don't know whether or not at a certain age you think, "Do I just stop and wait on Jesus or do I keep on going until I can't? 

At about 50 years old, I decided that there were a lot of things I couldn't do physically, I was too old. The truth is I just quit trying. Some of the younger people around me treated me like a feeble old man. The truth is they were just trying to be respectful.

One day I was visiting my family in Nashville, Tennessee and my little brother Jimmy told me that I had ready decided that I was old. He declared he wasn't going to get old until he had to. On the way home I thought about what he said. I decided to live differently. I wasn't going to get old until I got old. 

It was about that time, my son challenged me to hike part of the Appalachian Trail with him this spring. The only problem was I had already decided there were so many things I couldn't do physically. How could I carry a 40 lb pack and hike 10-15 miles a day on a trail? At that time physical exercise was walking to the mail box or picking sticks up off the front yard.

The thing I did was to accept the challenge from my son and I began to take hikes. I began to walk and hike. When I found something I couldn't do, I tried anyway. Then the next day I would do more and try harder, until I could accomplish the task. Soon I was doing a lot of things I had been convinced that I would never be able to do again. I was amazed how stong I felt. I also felt many years younger. It's been almost a year since I took the challenge. In a couple of months we will be hiking the trail.

The "can'ts" have become, "I can." I don't worry about not being able to do it. I can now do what I thought was impossible. This week I ran 4-5 miles and I biked 16 miles. I haven't run in 30 years. I've also been working with the weight machines at my gym to build muscle. 

Where would I be if I had answered my son's challenge with, "I can't? I would still be too old and I would be staying at home in May instead of living a dream.

God calls all of us to do things that are beyond us. When we look at the challenge and say, "Lord, I can't," we are really saying, "Lord, I won't." 

Here is how you should answer the Lord. The correct answer to the Lord is always, "Yes!" "No," is always a wrong answer. Answer and then try! 

Give God your best effort. He will help you. Here is a biblical truth that I have found. "God does not call us to do the impossible, without making it possible.