Finishing Strong!

My son Sev and I joined the CFC Ancop Global Walk to sponsor scholars. It was participated by about 80,000 people. It was a 5km distance and Sev was on his bike. At first I doubted if Sev could finish the whole stretch. But my son was determined. It also helped that I was encouraging him. We took it slow, enjoying every bit of the scenery and the people until we finished the race. We were not ahead of the rest but I could say that we finished strong!
In our walk with the Lord, we can easily have doubts along the way. Some of us start strong with our relationship with Him, only to give it up later in life. Somehow we get tired and succumb to the weaknesses of our humanity. But the Lord is there to encourage us and to show us how to enjoy our journey with Him until we reach the end. So how do we finish strong? We must have...

1. Faith that God wants the best for our lives. The Lord wants us to reach heaven and he'll do everything to help us get there. We go through trials to strengthen our faith and practice humility, so we may fully embrace the cross. We have to keep on believing in him in both good and bad times to reach heaven, our finish line. We have to...

2. Invite the Lord daily to walk with us. Prayer and Scripture is key. The Lord encourages us through His Word. But if we don't invite Him and take time to listen, we might just miss out His message that will give us hope and determination. We have to seek...

3. Nourishment to gain strength. Attending Mass regularly is the ultimate nourishment. The Eucharist gives us the grace to partake in the body and blood of Christ that will quench our thirst and hunger. We are also nourished through the relationships in the community of believers. We must gain...

4. Inspiration from those who successfully finished. One of my inspirations is a video in You Tube about a father who entered an Iron Man race with his son who could not walk and speak. They called their team "My Redeemer lives." Despite the odds, the father pressed on and finished the race. I was inspired to tears. We also know of countless saints who like us, humans with weaknesses, have kept the faith and finished strong in life. We can draw inspiration from them.

5. Seek ye first the Kingdom of God. And yes, all these things shall be added unto you. What slows us down are the many distractions along the race. We get sidetracked by our own greed and selfish ambitions. We must remember that if God comes first, everything else will be put in order.

6. Help others along the way. God calls us to evangelize and bring glad tidings to the poor. In fact the only way to reach the finish line, heaven, is if we have helped the poor around us.
Let us strive to finish strong by being faithful to the end. His grace will give us strength to endure and reach the finish line.

I continue my pursuit toward the goal, the prize of God’s upward calling, in Christ Jesus. Phil. 3:14

Life is Not a Treadmill

One of the basic equipment in the gym is the ever reliable treadmill. It helps us warm-up and have a good cardio exercise. The obvious difference of a treadmill compared to a normal outdoor jogging experience, is that you don't get anywhere no matter how fast you run.

Life is not meant to be a treadmill. Life is meant to be a marathon race, with a finish line and a reward in the end. And that 'reward' is heaven. What the devil wants us to do is to work as hard as we can, achieve as much as we can, for our own selfish motives and worldly ambitions. "Do not love the world or the things of the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, sensual lust, enticement for the eyes, and a pretentious life, is not from the Father but is from the world." 1 John 3: 15-16. It may seem at first that our worldly desires are getting us somewhere, but at the end of it, we realize that we are stuck with the world. 


A treadmill is secure in the sense that you will not encounter the other risk factors of outdoor jogging or a marathon such as the possibility of rain, bumps on the road, and generally being exposed publicly. But in this sense of security, we will not experience the essence of God's mission for our lives.

So go out there, explore life, take risks for our Lord!  Put your life in His hands. Faith after all is risking for the Lord. We walk by faith and not by sight (2 Colossians 5:7). But faith is the kind of risk that is sure of the reward of heaven.  The rewards of the world is nothing compared with the rewards of heaven. Let us therefore not waste our time in indulging in worldly pursuits, but focus on doing things that help us in our pursuit of heaven. Let us get off from the treadmill that the world offers and embrace the exciting race that the Lord invites us to run.

I have competed well; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith.  From now on the crown of righteousness awaits me, which the Lord, the just judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me, but to all who have longed for his appearance. (2 Timothy 4: 7-8)