Perseverance Pays

"Let us not become weary in doing good: for in due
season we will reap, if we don't faint."
- (Galatians 6:9).


Had Thomas Edison not been a man of faith,
perseverance and determination, we may still be
working by gaslight or, at least, it may have been
many years before the first electric light was seen.


It has been reported that Edison failed over 6,000
times before perfecting the first electric light bulb.


On one occasion a young journalist challenged Edison
saying to him, "Mr. Edison, why do you keep trying
to make light by using electricity when you have
failed so many times? Don't you know that gas lights
are with us to stay?"


To this Edison replied, "Young man, don't you realize
that I have not failed but have successfully discovered
six thousand ways that won't work!"


Because Edison believed an electric light was possible,
he refused to give up. He tried countless types of
material in his search for a filament that would work.
He sent men to China, Japan, South America, Asia,
Jamaica, Ceylon and Burma to search for fibers to test
in his laboratory—all to no avail.


On October 21, 1879, after thirteen months of repeated
failures, Edison finally succeeded in finding a filament
that would work. While experimenting, the thought came
to him, "Why not try a carbonized cotton fiber?"
After going through two spools of cotton, he eventually
perfected a strand only to break it while trying to
place it in a glass tube. He still persevered with this
idea for two more days and nights without sleep.
Finally he succeeded in placing a carbonized thread
into a vacuum-sealed bulb! Eureka! It worked.