Finishing Well

"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.  Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart." - Hebrews 12:1-3

      I remember learning as I traveled across Europe during a leadership training program that in the Bible only one in three leaders finish well.  I’ve recently heard that a study done in 2007 stated 90% of the people entering the ministry to not finish…they either disqualify themselves or flat out quit!  Quitting well that’s not finishing at all.  I even read a whole book about it one time it was about starting well and finishing well.  I confess I only remember from it that a whole lot of people did not finish well.  How do leaders go about meeting their full potential and not slacking or worse quitting all together?  I’m reminded of a God encounter I had in middle school.  It was the first time I’d heard God really speak loud and clear.  As if He had been trying to tell me this a million times He got fed up and spoke firmly yet gently in the middle of the night, “Dear one I never promised you that this would be easy… I just promised not to leave you.”  However He’s probably had to remind me that a hundred more times.  I start expecting it to be easy for some reason.  Then I remember if it were easy everybody would do it and if it were so easy God would never get the glory for it.  Sometimes we get so content in our lives that when we hit a small bump in the road we get all shaken up, throw it out of proportion and have the audacity to blame God for it.  Maybe we weren’t focusing on Him enough and we were getting to much credit, maybe we thought we could live on the mountaintop and did not need anymore preparation or training from down in the valley or maybe we weren’t still living our lives like God was still right there by our sides? 
           Which brings me to my second point, we can’t do this alone.  We just can’t.  We have to strive toward not only our daily relationship with Jesus but with good influential people around us.  This is were I confess I made a huge mistake in my life a few years ago.  I was super hurt by leadership in the organization I was working with at the time, people I was working with and people I trusted.  I confess I learned from this that forgiveness does not happen over night and it’s something I have to work at daily.  I also realized that after this happened I quit trusting people and in doing that I tried to figure everything out all on my own.  I’m slowly rising above that now because I’m now sharing with my entire blog audience… learn from my mistake.  It’s better to trust and be hurt than never trust and not have anybody there by your side walking you through huge decisions or to be accountable to.   
           What I’m also still learning is that so often we (well me at least) try to figure everything out.  I want to know what the next ten years of my life will look like.  Even though I’ll be the first to tell you if I did know I’d be bored and try to changed it or that there’s absolutely no adventure in faith if God were to write my life’s plan out on a wall.   God’s plans are so huge for my life I can’t even begin to comprehend them so why then do I possibly think I could have everything figured out?  While I’m at it why are CHRISTIANS so intent on young people knowing every freaking step they are going to take after high school?  Give us time well get there, maybe we actually are listening to God’s direction or maybe we are just going like Abraham not knowing where we are going.  Stop pressuring us to make life goals.  (Young people do not let me down this doesn’t mean you are allowed to sit on your bums.  You still have to seek God, figure out your talents, gifts and passions and chase your dreams with everything in your being.)  We’ve simply got to learn to listen to the voice of God and follow Him one step at a time.  AND…when our well devised plans and strategies seem to fall short…its probably just God trying to get our attention and trying to focus us on HIM instead of just trying to get HIM to put His stamp of approval on our well developed plan! I mean take a look at Act 2 will you.  It was not the result of a well thought out strategy but rather a group of men and women who were completely focused on Jesus and filled with this Holy Spirit!
           Last of all, we can’t please everybody.  We don’t have time to even try to.  I know you’ve all heard it a million times that God is the only one with an opinion that matters but do we still live like that or are we still striving to be kewl, fit in, please our friends.  Just in case you didn’t know people that “go to church” are the hardest to please.  Tell them you want to go help people in need and they will call you crazy.  Tell them you’ve decided to give up a full ride scholarship into a nursing program (they thought that also meant a well paying job, white picket fence, husband and kids err but that’s a different story for another time) and they will tell you flat out to your face you are making a huge mistake, there’s no way you could be hearing from God or even quilt trip you by saying things like this is going to kill your parents or those will be wasted years away from your family you will never be able to get back.  I love my family don’t get me wrong and I’d love to have tons of money, drive a nice car and take vacations to the Bahamas I’m just saying I love Jesus more than all that.  I remember in 2005 I had already been away from my family about a year and half and my dad had never really told me that he was proud of my decision to give up this life I’d planned for myself and go serve people in the Philippines but just before I went to board the plane that day my dad kissed my forehead and told me how proud he was.  I remember how happy I was to finally know after all this time that my dad was proud of me.  However that won’t compare to the ecstaticness of hearing my Heavenly Father proclaim well done my faithful servant!  Making my God proud doesn’t compare to any kind of earthly approval I receive.  In the end what our Heavenly Father thinks of us is all that will matter!
          In conclusion,  it’s not going to be easy but it will be worth it, you are never going to have it all figured out but don’t worry God does, you will never please everybody but you only need to please God, and you can never do it all by yourself but you don’t have to.

God called us so that He would work THROUGH us…and HIS power working through us is ALWAYS the difference maker.  Allowing Him to work in us, preparing us, revealing Himself to us and shaping us is the BEST way we can do what He has called us to do.

"I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith"—2 Tim. 4:7

… I pray we beat the odds and not only finish…   but finish well!!!!