Finishing

The World Cup is a fixation for every soccer enthusiast the world over, and I am no exception. My addiction began during the 1994 World Cup that took place in nine cities across the United States. Ironically, I did not watch the games from any US venue. Instead, I was living at the time in Tigoni, some 30 minutes from Nairobi, attending Swahili language school, and preparing for missionary service at a station in northern Kenya. Soccer (or football) is more than a national past time in most places around the globe; it is a national obsession, and East Africa is no exception. Because of the time difference, all of us ex-pats would stay up all night, glued to the small television set in one of the language student cottages, and sleepwalk through our language studies the day after. During certain games there would be language students from America, language teachers from Kenya, and African workers from Brackenhurst International Conference Center where we lived and studied, all crammed in a small room, different and yet united by sport. Needless to say, I was enthralled by last night's contest between the US and Ghana. Some of the match was exhilarating, but most of the game was exhausting. One can only bite so many fingernails before no outlet remains for nerves and anxiety. The American team prevailed against a relentless Ghanian attack, and by the end it seemed impossible that these players could persevere to the final whistle, but endure they did. The score ended in favor of the US team 2-1, but the real victory was in their hearts more than with their feet. 

Their courageous performance reminds of the truth that motivates me every day: what matters in life is that you finish well. Your marriage, your parenting, your vocation, your life may have gotten off to a rocky or even rotten start, but what matters is not how you began but how you will finish. This is so important to me that I've asked my wife to include only three words on my tombstone below my name and appropriate dates if she determines that they may be expressed honestly about me when I die: "He finished well." How will you complete your course?

"For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith." 2 Timothy 4:6, 7