Finishing Well
I stayed up until almost midnight last night, something I don’t do very often anymore. But the Braves were playing the Dodgers in game one of the National League Championship Series. I couldn’t miss a pitch. And so I stayed up until Austin Riley and Ozzie Albies hit homeruns, and Mark Melancon got the final out.
I lived in Detroit for seven plus years, and one night the Detroit Red Wings beat the Anaheim Ducks in a double overtime playoff game played in California. The Red Wings scored the winning goal just after 2 a.m. Rumor was that up to forty percent of the workforce in metro Detroit called in sick the next day.
Isn’t it funny? When I was in college you might find me at “Dunkin Donuts” eating soup at 2 a.m. Or I might be typing away at a term paper. Seldom did I go to bed before midnight during those days. I can remember staying up all night while camping and fishing. Sure, I would nap a bit the next day, but it was no big deal.
But things are different today. I’m older, and my body won’t take that kind of abuse. I recently read about the best formula for falling asleep while sitting in a chair. “Be old. Sit down in a chair.”
Why do I bring this up? Two reasons. First, I must remember that this world is not my final home. There is more to life than what we see and experience. This is an essential tenet of the Christian faith. But my second reason is this. I have been praying for several years now that the Lord would allow me to, “finish well.”
That’s what Paul meant as he wrote his second letter to Timothy. “I have fought the fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” Oh how I long to be able to say that at the end of my days
My body is not stronger today than it was 40 years ago, and it is not close. But I can be stronger in my faith, and I can be stronger in my walk with the Lord than I was back then. I pray that for me. I pray that for you. Let us be faithful until the day the Lord calls us home.
