It’s Not How You Start, It’s How You Finish

I’ve heard this saying for years and never given it much thought. Recently? I heard someone say it and as it resonated through my brain I found myself?thinking, “Wait… What?!?”
The Olympics just finished up, in case you’ve been living under a rock, and as?I watched the great runners such as Usain Bolt, I noticed something… If you ?start bad, you lose. If you dog it coming out of the gate there is no way you can?just turn on the switch and kick it in to high gear in the end and win. ?I think many of us try to live our lives this way. We coast through the race and? try to “turn it on” when it “really matters”.

In 1 Corinthians chapter 9 Paul compares life to running a race. I love as ?he begins this thought he focuses on the actual race but he quickly shifts ?gears. He quickly quits talking about the actual race and begins talking about? practice. Practice? Yes, Allen Iverson, we’re talking about practice. Paul ?begins painting word pictures of training, of doing the things you have to do? to be ready to compete and run the race. Paul understood that if you don’t do ?the prep work, if you don’t start well, no matter how hard you push at the end,? you’ll probably lose. ?I hate losing. Honestly, I think I hate losing even more than I love winning. ?Yes, I know that’s weird and I probably need some kind of therapy for it, haha. ?Are you doing the training? Are you doing the things that will help you run the?race? The things that will sustain you during the race?

As you may know, we just moved to Texas to lead the student ministry at a?great church here. We believe with all our hearts that God is going to show up ?and do some absolutely amazing things. Wednesday we had our first service and God did show up in an incredible way! 8 students prayed to accept Christ and 8 more made re-dedications of their lives! These students are making a new start. Please pray for them that they can start strong, run hard, and win the prize.

The cool thing about God is that the race is never over until it’s over and HE ?is always there to forgive us for our screw ups and let us have a new start. If? you’d like a fresh start, shoot me an email, or go talk to your local pastor or a ?believer you know.

Take care.

We Win Together.