Finish Strong

I want to share some things that have been on my heart lately. I hope that I can get a point across in the midst of disjointed thoughts.

Some of you know what "short-timer's disease" is, especially if you've been around the military any length of time. It's when you know you're leaving a place and you cease to care about it or sometimes even the quality of your work there.

I felt that way when we left Washington to move to Arizona. Maybe the 45 straight days of rain had something to do with it. But normally, I'm not too afflicted. But I do start looking to the future and concentrating on that instead of where I am presently. It's something that I believe God has been working on in my life. The last 4-5 years have been a time of huge uncertainty with respect to our moves, abnormally so for the Army. And as much as I'd like to blame the Army for it, I tend to think God's been trying to get my attention. Slowly, I began to listen.

When we lived in Garmisch, I took many walks out along the mountain paths near our home. I remember one day feeling melancholy, knowing my afternoons in the Alps were numbered. My heart was quiet enough that I was able to hear the voice of God through the gurgling of the stream that eventually ran into the Loisach.

"You love this place because it was here that you learned to be still. It was here that you listened to me more acutely. You're sad to leave this place because you have the mistaken notion that it is only here that you hear me. My promise to you is that I will never leave nor forsake you. And surely I am with you always, even to the very end of the age."



Now we are facing another move. I'm excited to be going to Tennessee for several reasons, not the least of which is that Ron will be done with Egypt and we'll be together again. The thought of leaving California, however, brings a sadness to my heart as well.

This whole move is becoming for me such a metaphor for life and how we're to live it. Finish strong.

It's not enough to have appreciated the time you've had. Of course, that is imperative. But it's not over yet. None of us are promise next month or next week. Not even tomorrow. Only today. What will I do with today? Finish strong.

I have work this day. Some of it is preparation for tomorrow. But some of it consists of giving a glass of water to a stranger. Some of it is prayers that the Word of God will be spread in Windsor Canada (Wayne, thanks for the pen, by the way). Some of it entails giving Maybelline a ride home. Some of it has to do with making a covered dish for a freshmen class dinner. Some of it is simply sitting around the dinner table participating in three generations of storytelling. Some of it is a little tedious; some of it is pure delight. But regardless, it's what fills my day and what I'm thankful for.

I know many of you are facing similar moves. I know some of you are even very close to the end of this journey of life. My prayer for you as well as for me is that we will finish strong.

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." (Heb. 12: 1-2)

Finish strong.