Start Strong, Finish Strong

Today Emileigh and Aria begin classes for the new school year.  In their growing up years we had a tradition of going out to breakfast together on the first day and the last day of school, usually IHOP.  We called this the "Start Strong, Finish Strong Breakfast."

If Emileigh or Aria happen to be reading this right now, they are probably smiling because they know the whole speech (or rather "inspired encouragement") that would follow the title of this event.  We would remind them that starting strong is important, to give your best, to try… But equally or maybe more critical is to finish strong.  

This is a lesson that no one can escape regardless of age.  We will be asked many times through life to start something, but our character and our reputation will be built on whether or not we finish.  Many times in this "new life" of ours, I have been very tempted to pack up and call it quits.  Life just sometimes gets unbearably hard.  Thankfully God in His providence sent me a "beaver" to marry.

John is one of the most consistent people I have ever known.  Some friends and family might even affectionately call him, "Rut Man."  I call it "purposed stability."  He has taught me a lot over the years about what it means to see something through.

I love planning things, organizing and initiating.  It's the follow-through that's the killer.  But it's in the moments of "sticking it out" that I see what I'm made of…what my motives are…and how Jesus can shine through my weaknesses.

So I dedicate this post to Emileigh and Aria.  Emileigh is in her senior year of college in Missouri.  Aria is at the same university starting her sophomore year.  I would be one of "those" parents if I told you about all of their amazing attributes, but for the sake of them and their embarrassment level I think that I would like to highlight just one.

In 2009, John and I moved to Cairo, Egypt with Emileigh and Aria.  At the time, Emileigh was 17 and Aria was 15.  Can you imagine two teenage girls willing to leave the only home they've known to move to a place with no friends, no school and no English?  Before we made the decision to move, we asked each of them to take time to pray.  Either we all agreed or we didn't go.  They returned after 2 weeks declaring, "Let's do it!"

So we did.  We moved from a city of 250,000 people to a metropolis of 24 million.  We learned how to take taxis, subways and read maps.  Then they learned how to do it on their own.  They learned Arabic, ate street food and made friends with the neighbors.

They started strong, but they also finished strong.  The months in Cairo and S****n were the most difficult we had ever faced, but they persisted.  Emileigh would create art projects reminding her of God's faithfulness while Aria would sing songs of praise to Jesus on her guitar.

The time came for them to transition from their time across the pond back to the US.  Not an easy task.  It required starting again.  But they have both done so gracefully…learning how to make choices that will set them up for a good life.  This day reminds me that they once again have a chance to start strong.  

But they can also know that the days in-between when it's tough, when it's overwhelming and when it seems too long, that they have a mother and father who love them, pray for them and know that they have it in them to finish strong.  We've seen it and we trust Jesus with all their days ahead.

Every time you cross my mind, I break out in exclamations of thanks to God. Each exclamation is a trigger to prayer. I find myself praying for you with a glad heart. I am so pleased that you have continued on in this with us, believing and proclaiming God’s Message, from the day you heard it right up to the present. There has never been the slightest doubt in my mind that the God who started this great work in you would keep at it and bring it to a flourishing finish on the very day Christ Jesus appears. Philippians 1:3-6.