Finish Well

Robot

Do you want to quit and give up when faced with a difficult challenge? This story will remind you of our call to finish well.

“Mom, I know how to code.”

My response, “Huh?”

Kellen, “Watch, I’ll put a button on this website. It will only stay there until I leave the page.”

My response, “Where did you learn that?”

“I taught myself.”

At first, I thought I was raising a hacker. Visions of the WikiLeaks dude started to run through my head. Then I shook that off and thought this is a great area to want to naturally learn and responded, “You need to get your brothers robot and see what you can get it to do.”

He immediately ran to his brother’s room and grabbed the robot. He opened the laptop ready to learn how to program the robot only to find that the software won’t open. We have all been there, right? He was not to be deterred. He redownloaded the software. That didn’t work. He went to the website to look for a patch. He tried downloading it again. It still didn’t work. Hours of searching and trying and no success went by. I would have completely given up and walked away. He was frustrated but wasn’t giving up. With a little help, three hours later the software was finally working. He then began figuring out how the software and couple hours later he had the robot moving forward, backward, and flashing lights.

At the end of the day. I was so proud of his perseverance. It is a characteristic that is so hard to develop in a world of instant gratification. I grew up with this mantra from my dad, “Do a job big or small, do it well or not at all.” Kellen took it to heart and was not going to quit.

He inspired me. How often am I faced with a challenge and I would rather quit than push through? More often than I want to admit. I need to remember that God has called me to a race that is worth running.  Too often I take my eyes off Jesus, get tired and want to quit. I often return to this scripture to reignite my drive to finish well.

Do you see what this means—all these pioneers who blazed the way, all these veterans cheering us on? It means we’d better get on with it. Strip down, start running—and never quit! No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins. Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we’re in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed—that exhilarating finish in and with God—he could put up with anything along the way: Cross, shame, whatever. And now he’s there, in the place of honor, right alongside God. When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he plowed through. That will shoot adrenaline into your souls! (Hebrews 12:1-3 MSG)

Thank you Kellen for reminding me to keep my eyes on Jesus. What do you do to push on and finish well? What scripture helps you refocus on Jesus? Share your thoughts. I would love to see a list of inspiring scriptures.

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