Doing What It Takes

I have finished my course.
2 Timothy 4:7-8

Bob Ireland crossed the finish line on Wednesday, November 6, 1986, as the New York City Marathon's 19,413th and final finisher - the first person to run a marathon with his arms instead of his legs!
Bob, who was 40 years old, had his legs blown off in Vietnam. He recorded the slowest time in the marathon's history: four days, two hours, 48 minutes, 17 seconds.
When asked why he ran, he gave three reasons:
(1) to show that being a Christian gives you a plus in life;
(2) to test his conditioning;
(3) to promote physical fitness and courage in others.

"Success is not based on where you start" he said, "it's where you finish- and I finished." Wow! With two good legs and all our faculties, most of us won't even get out of bed an hour earlier to discover and pursue our God-given destiny.

Success always comes at a price.

Cicero practiced speaking before friends every day for 30 years to perfect his eloquence. Milton rose at 4 o'clock every morning to have enough hours for writing his Paradise Lost. Gibbon spent 26 years on his Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Noah Webster laboured 36 years writing his dictionary, crossing the Atlantic twice to gather material. Byron re-wrote one of his poetic masterpieces 99 times before publication, and it became a classic. Before Paul wrote: "I finished my course," he wrote: "I have worked harder, been put in jail more often, been whipped times without number, and faced death again and again and again" (2 Corinthians 11:23 ).
Go ahead, measure yourself by that standard!
Then ask yourself "Am I willing to do what it takes?"