By Pastor Dennis Morales

“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, Ihave kept the faith.” 2 Timothy 4:7

Paul the Apostle is nearing the end of his life.  He is contemplating the things God had called him to accomplish.  This is his swansong.  I am immediately impressed with the confidence with which he is able to say “I finished.”  It’s been said that “a wasted life is really nothing more than a collection of wasted days. As God gives us life, each one of us starts the new year with the same number of opportunities—365—that we can choose to either use and invest in eternal things or allow to drift by without taking advantage of the gift we have been given.”  I was walking through a cemetery after afuneral service and my eye caught a headstone that read “a life stillunfinished.”  We would naturally say thatabout anyone that had passed from this world at a young age, but this wassomeone who passed at 78!  I don’t wantto come to the end and think of all the things I should have done or the ways Ishould have stepped out in faith.  Paulcalls life a “race.”  My favorite racesin the Olympics are the sprints.  Theseraces are literally over in seconds, but I am always impressed with the amazingspeed of the athletes.  The race referredto by Paul is likened to a “long distance” run. A long distance run takes faith, endurance, and focus.  Jesus “for the joy that was set before Himendured the cross, despising the shame.” (Hebrews 12:2).  God calls us to focus and invest in thingsthat matter so that we might finish well. 

Calvary Chapel Eastvale Meets Wednesdays at 7pm and Sundays at 8:30 and10:30 am  at Clara Barton Elementary 7437Corona Valley Ave, Eastvale.