Finish Strong | Crossroads Daily

Welcome, we are talking about Second Timothy today. My name's Josh. I'm Kirsten. I'm Mika. And I'm Debo. And we are the best looking podcasters you will ever see. Hell yeah. You can't say that. Heck yeah. Heaven yeah. Stop. No. Okay. All right, so we're in Second Timothy, Second Timothy 4, and this is, for all accounts, Paul's final letter. He's at the end of his life, he's coming to the end of his ministry. If you call yourself a Christian, like we call ourselves a Christian, it's largely in part due to Paul's writings. Most of the New Testament is Paul. So this guy has lived a life and he is coming to an end. He's in prison. He's writing to his spiritual son, Timothy, and this is the end of his life. And he's giving like, this is what I did. And so it's like, I fought the fight, you know, I finished the race, et cetera. So the question I'm curious about is, like when we... So I'm 50. How old are you? Am I allowed to ask that? Yes, you can. I don't know.

I'm 34. 34. Mika? 40. 40. I'm so glad you asked because I turned 30 this Saturday. I'm officially ancient. Yeah. But not as ancient as you. Yes. So, all right. I wanted to say a word and I can't say the word that I wanted to say to you just then. So we are all in sort of different stages in life. So Paul is faced with the end of his life. And so the question I ask us right now is, like if you, as you think about your life long-term, what does finishing well mean to you? The first time I really dug into the scripture, I was actually learning from BT, our senior pastor, Ryan. And he was describing this of like, your race is always changing, right? There's a race before you that God has given you to run. And it can look different, different parts of your life. But what I keep having come to mind is he talked about how you need the vision to see where you're running, like what your race is. And to do that, you need a few different things. You need like consistent time with the Lord, you need margin to be able to like have space to process what that vision is. And so I think when I think of finishing well at the end of my life, it is staying tied to the Bible describes your relationship with Jesus as like being connected to the vine. And so I would love to stay connected to the vine, whatever that looks like, to have my eyes on the vision that God has for me.

And I think that looks different. Like the last time I thought about my race and finishing well, at this portion of the race, I had this whole God experience where I kept hearing, don't be so quick to put down the baby. It sounds so weird out of context, but I have two little kids, hold the baby, but like, don't be so quick to hold the baby. And I have two little kids. I have a one and a half year old and a three year old. And at the time I had just started a new job that was a brand new church and community. And we were starting something from brand new. So it was two part. My race at that point was holding on to my babies a little longer before bed, not wishing away the season I was in that is hard, launching a brand new church and place. And so I don't know, I think finishing well just looks like always finishing those legs of your race. Like if I can get through this season, not putting down the baby so fast, my physical babies and my like work babies, then maybe I can finish this part well and then have vision for the next leg of my race and then just keep doing that as long as I'm alive. That is incredible. I'm serious. I have never thought about it that way. So the race as a relay. So like this chunk of my relay. That is really good. I feel like that takes the pressure. So it's as a 50 year old now, like I'm looking to the. latter half of my life. I'm not dead yet. So relax. I'm still cooler than anyone in this room. You wish. Absolutely.

Oh, I was agreeing with you. I was going to give it to him. Stop. Stop. Stop. Don't give him that. No, no, no. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. So, like I have often struggled with, am I relevant now? It's like, I never feel irrelevant until I'm at work with a bunch of young people. And then it's like, oh, you're totally irrelevant. But the reality is like this leg of the race that I'm on is what's important. And so for right now, for me, this leg of the race is the handful of younger guys that I'm mentoring, my grandchild, my teenagers. You know, I have like, I have six kids and four of them are out of the house and they have launched into life and I have a grandbaby now and then I have these teenagers, like this leg of my life. But that is so, that is so freeing. It's still difficult, but that perspective is so good. I'm in a relay and it's this moment that I have to worry about. And I'm going to keep building. So my next one is, you know, whatever that is. And that's really good. That's a really great way to think about it. Probably God then. Yeah, I think for me, the two words that like pop up in my head are faithful and consistent. And I think just in every area of my life, like if I look ahead and I'm like working backwards and I'm on my deathbed, like I want to be known as faithful and consistent and I want that for myself. And so I almost like look at my life now and I think about the things that I'm like consuming my mind now. I think it's like even a challenge for me right now, because I'm like, man, like sometimes I get off course. I'm not even thinking about like running the good race, maybe at the end of my life, looking back and thinking this is what I want to be. This is what I want my life to be because of the things I'm even thinking right now. Like it's a challenge even for me right now as I'm sitting here, like I'm focusing on the wrong things. Like, like the day to day, I think sometimes we can just be off course and I can think about material things or I can think about just my image or my reputation. Like I focus on the things that like, I don't know, I just are probably at the end of my life. I won't be, I won't be consumed with as much as I should be. And so I think faithful and consistent are the things that I really, really want at the end of my life.

Yeah, that's right. Yeah. And it's like that starts with like doing that now, you know, which is to your point, because so, so many things y'all said just have stirred up a number of thoughts in my head. So this is a bit of an uncooked thought, but I definitely just hear being present, right? Like continuing to just be present so that you can steward each moment. And I'm reminded because there's a part of the, this passage where Paul says, I think it's Demas or somebody. Yeah. Yeah. They left because they were consumed with the things of the world. So as you were saying that, I was thinking about that, like, wow, like not wanting to deviate from whatever God's path is for your life because you've, you know, been captivated by the things of the world. So it's like still staying obedient, like you were talking about remaining obedient. For me, it's also just anchored in truth. I've seen people that I've looked at as spiritual giants in my life, get to older, get to, you know, their later stages in life and their faith even begins to like shake and like they're now, you know, living in the information age, you know, where now they're gravitating to some of these other things that like tickle their ears. And I've seen like their faith dwindle later in life. So to me, I'm like, I definitely want to be anchored in truth. I want to be present day in and day out. And a piece to that, oh yeah, and obedient, but then also kind of to your point, like what I've been recognizing more and more now, and it's the way that like God kind of sets up my life in these different seasons, in these transitional seasons. I have like this hypersensitivity to exiting every season wheel, not just entering the new season wheel, but exiting every season wheel. And I think that plays a part into my, okay, like finishing wheel, you know, at the end of the road, finishing wheel each step of the way, right? To be able to leave a thing and your name is still good there. Your relationship is still good there. You know what I mean? Like it's still a fond memory. You didn't, you know, just dart out of that place once God opened a new door. Right. That's right. And for me, I think about like my season of singleness right before I got married. That's one of my fondest seasons. seasons like of spending time with God was literally not to sound like over Jesus Lee or whatever but like for me it's like that was a season where like we just really had a lot of one-on-one time and not that we don't have that now but then it was I don't know it was almost like Jesus saying like okay I

know I'm gonna have to share you right to a degree with the woman I have for you so let's let's lock in right now and let's like squeeze every ounce of juice out of this season as possible and I think that was I don't know that's what that season always represents for me yeah when I think about when I when I think about the people that I've seen in my life who finished well the thing I the thing that's common is they they planted more gardens than they built houses like the thing the thing about a garden is if you tend it well it will it will grow bigger and every year will produce a crop yeah you know we'll get to the point where you have tended it so well it will just keep going on all you have to do is harvest it yeah the thing about a house is it will never change yeah it's just this the stagnant and it's beautiful this is beautiful and it serves a purpose but like the people that I am drawn to are the ones I feel like in my life they built a garden in me and like that has produced a harvest yeah over time yeah so I think I I wonder if finishing well is less about the grand things I do and more about how well I tend what's in front of me yeah absolutely yeah I mean absolutely man so I guess a challenge for us sort of closing out is who is it what's the garden we're tending right now like where where are we planting seeds that we might not see a harvest from yeah and I have a handful of guys in my life yeah who I'm watering and you know and taking care of and I'm probably not I may not see what comes of that yeah but the fact is the fact of matter is like finishing well means I'm gonna look back and I go look at all those gardens yeah and I took care of them while they were mine to take care of yeah and there's fruit that I may not see yeah yeah which I mean there's stuff Paul did not get to see yeah mm-hmm yeah he did not get to see yeah so that's a challenge for us to finish well all right that's it see you next time