Finish Strong

My first three years of college, I ran cross country.  I know that’s hard for you to believe, but I did.  We usually ran about three and a half miles - 5k in today’s distances.  I never finished above tenth, but I always finished, just a personal goal of mine.  Ha, ha!  I ran a race at covenant college, a course unfamiliar to me.  But I did well because I had a runner from Covenant right behind me all the way.  Throughout the race, he would get ahead of me by a few steps, and then I would overtake him.  But he never fell very far behind me.  And somehow, I knew that he was pushing me rather than me pushing him.  And then, a hundred yards to the finish line, he began his move.  I did my best to punch it out, but I just couldn’t keep up the pace.  I had given just too much during the entire race.  So this unnamed runner from Covenant College beat me by three steps.  I remember it clearly as if it were just yesterday.  If at any time during the three-and-a-half-mile race I would have gained four steps on him, I would have beaten him in the end.  But I didn’t.  And, I remember that race almost every week.  That was fifty-one years ago.  And that has been a reminder for me for fifty-one years.  Don’t let up; keep up the pace; finish strong.  Paul said in II Timothy 4:7 & 8, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.”

White Gloves

Michael Jackson’s white gloves sold for $350,000 in 2009.  I have gloves that I use for roofing that look very similar but sell for about $4.  So, what gives?!  Why can’t I up the price of my gloves?!  Why are Michael Jackson’s gloves worth so much more than my gloves?!  I have discovered that there are two reasons.  The first difference is who wears the gloves.  Michael Jackson is famous and Gerald Whitely is not.  And the second reason is what someone is willing to pay.  Someone valued Michael Jackson’s gloves so much that they were willing to pay $350,000 for them.  Hey, there’s a lesson here.  I am worth nothing in myself.  But God sent His precious Son, Jesus, to give His life to redeem my soul.  Therefore, God puts extreme value upon me.  And God puts extreme value on you!  You are special to Almighty God!  The apostle Peter said in I Peter 1:18,19, “Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:”  Jesus paid an extremely expensive price for your soul.  Have you accepted His offer of salvation?  Never forget that Jesus loves you so much. 

Last Hits

Do you remember playing “last hits” with your brother?  I do.  If not, here’s how it goes: you have to be the last one to get a hit to the other’s arm.  If he hits you, you have to hit him, and he has to hit you, and you have to hit him, and … well, you get the picture.  You hit him, and then run so that you can be the last one to hit the other.  But he catches you and hits you, and then he runs, and you have to catch him so that you aren’t the last one.  At some point, someone had to give in.  Someone has to stop.  Someone has to be the bigger person and forgive the other.  Paul said it in Ephesians 4:32, “And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.”  Jesus took every sin that we ever committed and took them all upon Himself on the cross of Calvary.  Every one of them, past, present, and future.  All of them.  So, we should be kind to each other just as Jesus Christ was.  And to the extent that Jesus forgave us, we should forgive each other.  And that was extreme!  Jesus gave His life for us.  The least we can do is to forgive each other.  Hey, go the extra mile today.  Forgive others to the extent that Christ has forgiven you.