What’s up bro!
A few weeks ago I wrote that “the only way to fail is to fail to learn.”
Today, I’m ready to call my own bluff on that line!
⚡️ F5 Fast Files - Short Summary
Failure IS an option - That’s what gives commitment, growth, and courage their meaning
Risk (not recklessness) is essential - Growth lives on the edge of uncertainty
Because Christ already won, we don’t need to fear ultimate failure.
📣 Big shoutout to our F5 brother, Jared, for the new addition to their family! What a great place for a baby boy to land in this world, we’re so happy for them!
🌙 Midnight
The jet-lag from our recent trip is wreaking havoc on my kids’ sleep schedule. So, bedtime has become a full-contact sport all week! This, among other things, has put me back to long days, long nights, and short patience.
Life is technically “on track”… but close enough to the edge that, like our flights home, the feeling is just “turbulence.”
In the middle of that, a phrase popped into my head: “Failure is not an option.”
I’ve heard it tons of times, repeated in iconic movies or by strong men.
Tonight, I’m calling it out.
Failure IS an option. I could absolutely fail rn! Oddly enough, that’s what makes the fight worth fighting.
💪 A Better Way to Think About Failure
In that previos newsletter, I shared a framework that still holds up well. There are 4 possible outcomes when we take action:
You get the result
You learn the lesson
You get both
You get neither ← This is the only true failure
Don’t miss the implied first truth tho:
👉 You took a shot.
👉 You chased something that matters to you.
👉 You risked losing.
Failure being a possibility is what gives meaning to commitment!
Weightlifters understand this, often training “till failure.” Muscles break down, rebuild stronger, and go further the next time. The same principle applies everywhere else.
It’s good to fail! When it’s paired with learning and persistence.
Risk Without Recklessness
I’m not talking about macho mode.
“Failure is not an option” sounds noble - like a movie line delivered right before the hero saves the world. But, lived out improperly, that mindset often hurts more than it helps.
Neither extreme is the answer:
Avoiding failure at all costs often means avoiding growth altogether
Playing it safe can feel responsible (sometimes it is!), but often it’s just fear wearing a tie.
We can hold space for all of this to be true at once. Yes, failure is an option.
And walking the line between success and failure is what gives depth and meaning to the journey.
🧗🏼♂️ The Risk is the Point
Not recklessness. Not gambling. Just Risk.
The kind where you’ve done your homework, counted the cost, lined things up the best you can… and still don’t know exactly how it’s going to turn out.
Alex Honnold once asked:
“When’s the last time people were actually afraid… real fear where they could actually get hurt? If people never experience real fear, the mind starts creating fears out of nothing.”
As a free solo climber, he’s an extreme example - but the question still lands.
When was the last time you truly jumped? (after doing your homework, of course.)
Normalize risk. Don’t normalize recklessness.
✨ The Gospel Changes the Stakes
In mortality, failure is absolutely an option.
But in the eternal sense? Failure is not final - because Jesus Christ has already succeeded. Because he already won, we are free to risk losses here.
It’s actually the point.
Grace is real! Just remember that it brings success on eternal terms, not temporal ones.
“For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” — Matthew 16:26
⚔️ An Invitation
Do the homework.
Count the cost.
Then jump.
What if the risk is exactly where the growth is?
We won’t win every race, occasionally tasting defeat. When those losses come, learn the right lessons and jump again!
It won’t erase the pain or make it easy, but paired with hope in Jesus Christ loss will never be permanent.
Learn. Repent when needed. Choose to keep leaping.
Justin
F5 Brotherhood
P.S - The LinkTree is still your hub for everything F5 Brotherhood
