Finishing Well

The 2010 edition of the FIFA World Cup series in South Africa has just ended. Thoughout the course of the competition we have seen teams battling it out for glory and honours in the football championships.

It is interesting to see, how teams can play so differently in both halves of the game. Some teams started strongly in the first half but fizzled out when the second half came. Other teams displayed better fortunes where after a disappointing first half, they ended the second half of the game strongly to win the tie. Yet some others played a consistent game throughout both halves to finish the game well.

I am reminded of one of the topics that was being discussed by the group of Overcomers as we approached or passed the half way mark through life. Mid life is the period of our lives between the age of 40-50 years. All of us had been over the forty years mark some time ago and faced up to the mid life crises of some sort. We were talking about needing to end the second half of our lives well or to live the second half of our lives better than the first half. Two books on this subject that we came across were; ‘Finishing Well’ by Bob Buford and ‘Second Wind for the Second Half’ by Patrick Morley.

For Kathryn, the second half started when she was diagnosed of breast cancer some nine years ago. The crisis triggered by her illness was a different kind of ‘mid-life’ crisis. Despite that she did not allow her condition or thoughts of what might happen hinder her from living out the second half with such grit and determination. Life’s plans and priorities had to be reexamined and realigned in the light of the crisis so that we could finish the second half well.

The Lord brought new friends and new Christians into our lives that we could reach out and minister to even as we took time to deepen the friendships and relationships with those friends that we already had. Each new day became a fresh opportunity to fulfill the dream of serving God and loving people. Each disappointment served to strengthen rather than to weaken. The second wind for this second half came from the deep personal experience of our God even in the midst of our human weakness.

Kathryn has completed her game. She has finished well. She has now her hands lifted up with the trophy of fulfillment and accomplishment of a life lived well.