Finishing Well God's Way

Just read this beautiful article, and it inspired me to type a post using its title...

Just came back from the sub-D farewell for Winnie and me. Feel very, very, very loved. Thank you so much, dearest bros and sisters... it truly has been a great joy to serve God together with you all.

Think what I'll carry away with me from this old ministry into the new ministry is the precious memories and the very dear friendships formed, esp those with whom I have gone through thick and thin. Special thanks to Jan, Mich, YF, Flince, Huanyan, Swee Leong, Bowen, Guanrui, Hongtao... you all have been very dear and precious friends and co-workers together in this ministry, and I will miss you deeply! I remember especially the joys and the sorrows that we faced together - that is why I truly treasure these friendships very much. But, as this beautiful saying goes, "those who love God never meet for the last time". Amen? :)

Hee, really thank God for my dear brothers and sisters, some who have moved on already into the Adults ministry (I'm coming, I'm coming!)... over the past 4.5 years, many of them have sown seeds of love, grace and truth into my heart, and hee, like the pretty picture of the mustard plant that they drew, their seeds have made a lasting impact on my heart.

How true it is that one is able to reach his or her fullest potential only when he/she is in a community of caring and committed friends! Thank you for being a family to me! :D

I was thinking about what I shared with them... yes, it's really true that it doesn't matter very much how you started... what truly, truly counts is whether you finished the race of life well.

It's just like a marathon - God doesn't care how fast you run... But He cares that you are faithful to finish the race. And all those who are faithful to the very end will receive the crown of life that He has promised to those who love Him.

And I'm so grateful to God that He has allowed and helped me finish this lap of my life well. It was such a joy to see the close friendships that I've developed with the other brothers, especially those in the MACHO Turbo group! Thank God so much for all of you who shared or wrote or messaged your words of affirmation with me, and Eugene for his backrub, since he knows that touch is one of my love languages!

And finally, I do pray earnestly and eagerly in my heart that Winnie and I will have impacted you guys in the NUS ministry to love God more and love His people more. If we have impacted just even one teeny, tiny heart, and that heart responds to God, then we will know that all our labour in the Lord has not been in vain!

Dear friends, dear brothers and sisters, dear comrades in Christ, it really doesn't matter if you started well or not in the Marathon of Life - what truly, truly, truly matters in God's eyes is that you finish well - to cross that Great Finishing Line to Heaven and hear the beloved words that have been heard by all those who have loved God and their fellowmen to the end, across the ages, from the beginning of the world to the end of it: "Well done, good and faithful servant!"

So let's serve God and His people with all our passion and perseverance, no matter how mighty or mundane it may seem - let us fight the good fight, let us finish the race and let us keep the faith!

Amen! :D