Finishing

Written by cycleguy on July 17th, 2013

I AM NOT A QUITTER! 

I AM NOT A QUITTER! 

I AM NOT A QUITTER! 

I hope you noticed that each one got darker, and therefore, louder.  No one likes to be known as a  quitter.  In anything.  As an athlete it is something ingrained into the brain…never quit.  “The game is not over until the fat lady sings.”  (Comic relief)  Games have been won with seemingly impossible last second shots.  Baseball teams down by gobs of runs with two out in the ninth inning have rallied to score and win.  Since I watch the Tour de France (I may be the only one of my readers who does), I have watched cyclists refuse to quit on the toughest climbs.  The Tour isn’t over until they are in Paris.

I was reading Tony Dungy’s book when he mentioned a runner named Derek Redmond and his Barcelona experience.  So out of curiosity I went to YouTube and found the story.  Derek was an Olympic athlete who had one goal: win the gold medal in the 400 meter sprint.   Rather than me tell you the story, watch it here.

Victory is not for the swiftest, the sharpest dresser, the popular one.  Victory is reserved for those, no matter who they are, who finish the race. (The tortoise and the hare come to mind for example).  In life, there are a whole lot of people who are smarter than me, wiser than me, more gregarious than me, wealthier than me, even more spiritual than me, but what matters is none of those.  What matters to me and for me is finishing the race.  The Apostle Paul wrote, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.  Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.”  2 Timothy 4:7-8   Paul knew the important thing was finishing well.

I don’t need to preach here.  You probably know the application so rather than take up a lot of your time, I’ll just ask you to watch/listen to this video.  It is my favorite Christian song of all time by one of my all-time favorite groups.

How are you doing in the finishing department?  Feel like giving up?  Don’t!!  Keep running.  It is, after all, a long distance run.

 

20 Comments so far ↓

  1. Tami Grandi says:

    this is so applicable in so many areas right now.. I needed to read this and be reminded of it! Oh, and that video- I saw that a few weeks ago and boohooed (surprised?) LOL 🙂

  2. Daniel says:

    I try to keep running, even when I don’t want to. Hopefully all this exertion proves to be worth it.

  3. Caleb Suko says:

    When I’m tempted to quit I remind myself that Jesus never quit on me and neither did my parents and a bunch of other people. The temptation to quit can be strong but the strength to carry on can be even stronger if it comes from the Lord.

    • cycleguy says:

      totally agree and as a missionary you have definitely had those moments I’m sure. Good to hear from you again Caleb. Looking forward to reading about your trip to Russia.

  4. Bill, I watch the Tour, though not as much as I used to. Sometimes I do want to give up, but I push through. Just a small example, I wanted to give up last night and not write a blog post. I persevered and wrote it. And I even liked it fairly well.

  5. Ben Nelson says:

    Praying to finish well!

  6. My mind works very strangely but if…”Quitters never win and winners never quit” How come we’re encouraged to “quit while we’re ahead”? 😉

  7. floyd says:

    I used that story of Redmond several years ago in a manuscript I wrote about the characteristics of greatness from a Biblical perspective. Perseverance is key. I’ve said it before, maybe here, since I recognize that group from the by gone era! “If passion is king then perseverance is queen.”

    There is no such thing as losing unless we quit… And it measures a lifetime…

  8. Amen! Giving up is not an option. Soooo needed to Thank you.

  9. David says:

    In the finishing department?

    Not doing great, but let’s just say I’m not quitting.

    I’ve never run a marathon but I’ve heard about “hitting the wall”, I kind of feel like that’s where I’m at right now in the marathon of life. Floyd’s 07/13 post mentioned perseverance, there seems to be a common thread …

    Okay, God, I hear you …

  10. Betty Draper says:

    What a challenge for our hearts. Even if I have to limp into heaven I will finish the race. I Cor. 2:2 I determined to know nothing other then Christ Jesus and Him crucified.

  11. I love Paul’s metaphor of a long-distance race. Because we often tend to think of our lives as short bursts of effort instead of day-to-day efforts that sometimes seem rather mundane. But it’s just one step in front of the other, again and again.