Finish the Race!

This past week, the classes of '22 and '23 (2nd and 3rd grades) performed, "The Amazing Grace Race" before our parents and then during our chapel program Friday. The message was a great reminder for all of us and it was perfect timing. Doesn't God always supply us with everything we need all the time? Toward the end of the year, we, and I do mean all of us, grow weary physically, emotionally, and perhaps spiritually. I Timothy 4:7, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith" has always been one of my favorite Scriptures when I am feeling that the race is never ending. And knowing that before Jesus uttered His last words, "It is finished", He gave it everything He had  to finish strong, inspires me to keep on going. As we prepare for the year end activities of school life that includes studying for final exams, completing projects, getting through the curriculum, studying when the light of day is lasting longer, Daring to Love someone we are growing weary of, remembering to turn in those library books that you cannot find, etc., remember the message from the "The Amazing Grace Race" and don't give up because God is with you every step of the way supplying you with the grace we need to see things through!

I have to close with one of my favorite stories of a boxer who was asked, "How do you keep fighting when you are dead tired and exhausted?"  Below, find James "Gentleman Jim" Corbett's answer. He was a boxer who lived from 1866-1933 and was the heavyweight champion of the world from 1892-1897.

"Fight one more round. When your feet are so tired that you have to shuffle back to the center of the ring, fight one more round. When your arms are so tired that you can hardly lift your hands to come on guard, fight one more round. When your nose is bleeding and your eyes are black, fight one more round. When you are so tired that you wish your opponent would crack you on the jaw and put you to sleep, fight one more round. Always remembering that the man who fights one more round is never whipped. . . . . He is always battling one more round."

Be encouraged!

Clark Gilbert