The Reign in Pain

So, I’m driving down the freeway, and something passes me like I am standing still. It’s one of those big horsepower Mustangs. Even though I am a Camaro man, I like the attitude, feel, performance, and success of the Mustang. The Ford Mustang was first introduced to the public on April 17, 1964, at the New York World's Fair. So, the Mustang is 60 years old and counting. 

On the first day of sales, 22,000 Mustangs sold; by the end of 1964, Ford had sold 263,434. The 2024 Ford Mustang GTD is the most powerful Mustang ever produced, with 815 horsepower and 664 lb-ft of torque. It also has the most horsepower per liter of any Mustang engine. That's the Mustang that passed me in my 2011 RAV 4. Just kidding.

So, how did the Mustang come into existence? What circumstance or event created the Mustang? How did this idea become such a successful product? The answers to these questions lie in the title of this article. The Mustang's reign came from pain. That sounds insane. Let me explain.

Many of you baby boomers may recall that the Ford Edsel automobile produced by Ford Motor Company was a dismal failure in the view of the buying public. Ford lost millions of dollars. The Edsel was the butt of numerous and was soon in the graveyard of cars that did not make it.

The rest of the story, however, is quite different. You fail not when you are beaten, but when you quit. The Ford Motor Company did not quit. “Never quit” often has a better outcome than “Not quite...” 

Out of the Edsel's failure came incredible success. Some of the technology developed and research that followed enabled the company to produce the Mustang, which was, until that time, Ford’s all-time bestseller and most profitable motorcar. From what the engineers learned from the Mustang, they were able to produce the Taurus, and for several years, the Taurus was the number-one-selling car in America. 

Since I gleaned this true story from Zig Ziglar, I’ll let him give you the ‘equipping you for life’ takeaway. “When adversity stares you in the face, and you fail in an endeavor, look at adversity as a learning experience. That’s what Ford did. That's why the Edsel automobile was ultimately such a success in the overall scope of things. Adjust your thinking to that approach, and you will convert your Edsels to successes.” Zig just revealed ‘the reign in pain that stays mainly on the explain’ of this article.

Have you heard the saying, “No Pain, No Gain?” In today’s world, people want to live in a “No Pain, No Pain” state. Good luck with that. How can you become an overcomer if you have nothing to overcome? Let pain speak to you. If you manage pain correctly, it’s a teacher, not a destroyer. It certainly was in the Edsel affair. Lesson: John Henry Newman says, "If we are intended for great ends, we are called to experience great hazards."

Here's a short paragraph from an unknown author about adversity, dire circumstances, difficulties, disappointments, and the pain that often accompanies them. I use this thought in my singles/career relationship series: Relationships, De-flationships, Battleships, and Abandonships. 

"Pain is not an evil to avoid at all costs. Pain is instead a teacher from whom we can learn much. Pain is instructing us, telling us to change, stop doing one thing or begin doing another, stop thinking one way, and start thinking differently. When we refuse to listen to pain and its lessons, all we have left is one of the escapist tendencies of worse options and addictions. We have said, ‘I will not listen. I will not learn. I will not change.’ Charles Spurgeon says, ‘Trials teach us who and what we are; they dig up the soil and let us see what we are made of.’” 

There is pain in staying the same, and there is pain in doing the work to change. Whether you do the job or not, there will be inner turmoil. But pain from adversity and trials is not our enemy. It's simply there as a voice to help you understand that steps can be taken to change the pain to gain. Often, setbacks pave the way for comebacks, like the Mustang and the Taurus. Billy Graham said, “Comfort and prosperity have never enriched the world as much as adversity has.”

Gaze - don’t glance - at this Bible verse. “This is what the high and exalted One says, He who lives forever, whose name is holy, ‘I live in a high and lofty place, but also with the one who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite.’” Notice the words “but also with the one…” God is a one-on-one God who promises He will live in the pain with you, fully intending to heal and revive your spirit and heart. Isaiah 57:15. God’s awesome, we’re ‘flaw-some!' It’s OK not to be OK with God as long as you return to God. 

Robert Leighton said, “Adversity is the diamond dust heaven polishes its jewels with.” Bill Johnson said, “Some aspects of God's presence can only be experienced amid the difficulties and challenges we go through.” Aha! 

Here’s your homework: Ask yourself and then answer yourself, “What can I learn to change this temporary failure into a resounding success?”