John was a boy who dreamed of big things although he had a difficult childhood in San Francisco.

John received little formal education but visited a local library every day where a friendly librarian guided him through a program of deep and intensive reading.

John worked at a cannery then switched to stealing and selling oysters. He borrowed money from his aunt to buy a small boat so he could raid the oyster beds at night. When the boat was wrecked, he joined the harbor patrol.

Still hungry for an education, he returned to high school where he wrote articles for the school newspaper. He saved enough money to enroll at the University of California at Berkeley but dropped out when he ran out of funds.

Desperate to escape his poverty he traveled to Alaska and joined the thousands of men who were searching for gold in the Klondike. He failed in his quest but realized that his experience was valuable as content for writing.

John returned to California and began writing a short story based on his time in Alaska. He wrote for fifteen hours, not even stopping to eat. When he finished, he submitted the piece to different publishers as he worked on more stories.

Over the next five years, he received 664 rejections. As motivation, he pinned every rejection letter to the floor. He eventually had a stack four feet high.

He had almost given up when he received an acceptance from a national literary magazine. This inspired him to keep writing.

In 1903, he submitted a full novel that became a publishing sensation. In a few months his book made him an international celebrity. He was now one of the bestselling authors in the world.

But what you need to know is that this author, now known as Jack London, had such success with his novel, “The Call of the Wild” because he never stopped trying and never stopped believing.

Never give up on what God has called you to do.

The Bible says in Ecclesiastes 9:10, “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might…” NIV

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