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learned from Papaw Phil about never giving up is that there is nothing wrong with starting small if you just keep going. You just take what you have, whether it’s a little idea or a little bit of extra time or a little bit of money, and you make the most of it. You do the best you can with that little bit, and you keep working at it, and pretty soon it will grow. It might even get so big that the whole world knows about it someday.
    There’s a Bible verse that talks about this. Zechariah 4:10 says:
    Do not despise these small beginnings,
    for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin.
    If God tells us not to look down on small beginnings, then we can feel excited about the little things in our hearts. If God can love the seed of a dream or an idea that seems minor or random, youand I can love those small beginnings too. If God gets happy just seeing somebody begin to work on something, you and I can also be happy about taking a first little step toward our dreams and about taking more little steps after that first one.
    Maybe you have a dream today, and something inside of you is telling you it will work out someday if you just don’t quit. Maybe it’s something really specific, like Papaw Phil and his duck call. Maybe it’s something you don’t think you could ever make any money doing. I’m sure people thought that about Papaw Phil. Maybe it’s something you know you will have to work really, really hard to accomplish. The truth is, most dreams are like that. If they are dreams worth having, they are worth working hard to achieve.
    No matter what your dream is, go for it. Don’t think you can’t start working on it just because it seems small right now. Do what you can with your small dream, and it will eventually become your big dream.
    DON’T TAKE NO FOR AN ANSWER
    One of my great-grandfathers on my mom’s side was named Luther Neal Shackelford. Our family called him Papaw Shack, but most people called him Luke—this is where John Luke got his name. Well, Papaw Shack had a father who was an alcoholic. His mother eventually left his dad to support and raise her seven children who were still living at home. Their life was not an easy one, but my papaw and his siblings made the best of a bad situation by stayingin school and playing sports. My papaw’s dream was to play college basketball. That dream gave him a purpose and goal in life. After high school, my papaw, like his older brothers, knew the only way he would go to college was to go on a GI Bill. So he did. He and all five of his brothers joined different branches of the armed forces and served our country during wartime.
    Papaw Shack joined the Marine Corps in 1948, just before the Korean War. He was the only man in his barracks who could type, so he was designated “clerk typist” after finishing boot camp. Papaw claimed that God made sure he could type so he would be spared the front lines of war. He laughingly said that if he was sent to the front, he could strangle the enemy with a typewriter ribbon.
    When people realized Papaw was an athlete, he was allowed to join the base sports teams. He played on these basketball teams for the five years he was stationed stateside, in California. Each base had teams that competed against other bases, colleges, and Amateur Athletic Union teams. These base teams were highly respected, and Papaw was honored to continue playing the game he loved to play.
    This arrangement lasted the five years Papaw was stateside, but then he was sent to Hawaii and Japan. There, Papaw found himself in a tent camp in freezing weather and extremely rough conditions. He thought his basketball dream was over. But he soon heard that the base was forming a team to entertain the troops, so he set out to find out how he could play. When he asked his commanding officer about trying out, the officer told him no because all the players on the team had to have played in college. Papaw hadn’t gone to college yet, but he didn’t take that no