REACHING THE GOAL

Last week Friday, an ex-colleague of mine passed away.

That was upsetting.

She was alone when she died.

That is upsetting.

We were unable to find out the exact cause of death, although she went home early on Thursday because she felt very sick.

That is upsetting.

There will be no funeral, or remembrance service, or celebration of her life.

That is even more upsetting.

She held temporary jobs at different places. We tried to organise a small get-together to remember her and pray together at the company where she worked the longest, but was refused on the grounds that it would be inconvenient to accommodate staff members of competing companies - that was upsetting to the extreme.

Jeanine* was a about my age.

Sometimes she appeared to be larger than life. She was loud, and did not mind expressing her opinions or her emotions to one and all. In her younger years, she lived hard, played hard, smoked heavily, drank abundantly, and was financially comfortable, owning her own company, home and car, but she never had any children of her own.

Playing the game too hard, she lost everything she had.

From that point forward, life became a battle in more ways than one.

Then about 5-6 years ago, give or take a year or two, she went into a coma and landed in hospital. Nobody, including Jeanine, was able to tell us exactly what had gone wrong in her body. She was in a coma for quite a while, about two weeks, if my memory serves me correctly.

Once she was back at work, I took time to get closer to Jeanine. We would sit in the office in the evenings, tele-marketing together. At this time, her vehicle was in a state of disrepair, so I would offer her a lift home and on the way we would stop off at a nearby Spur restaurant and have a meal, especially on the evenings when they had specials, when we each enjoyed a meal and paid only for one! What a bargain!

We got talking about life, it's difficulties, challenges, disappointments, heartaches, victories, laughs, joys, and eventually about God and His purpose for our lives. Jeanine had lost her faith in God after having lost everything. She decided that He either did not care or did not exist.

I pointed out to her that God was so gracious and merciful to her, that although she had lost everything through her own wrong and misguided decisions, she had never gone to bed without food, always had a roof over her head, was employed, had colleagues who cared, and above all else God gave her a second chance in life when she awoke from the coma.

She was very thankful for that second chance and came to admit that she could thank nobody for that except the Almighty!

Jeanine was like every other person on earth. Romans 3:23 says:

                        "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."

We all make mistakes; we all take risks; we all make poor decisions - we all try to live life 'my way' until we come to the realisation that our track leads to a dead-end : a cul-de-sac.

She had reached hers in a coma in hospital BUT she was given a second chance at life, at making the right choices and decisions; at choosing to believe once again that God is alive and well and very much aware of what we are doing with our lives.

Romans 3: 24 - 26 became truth in her life:

                       "being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ
                        Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation, by His blood, through faith, to
                        demonstrate His righteousness because in His forbearance God  had passed
                        over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present
                        time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who
                        has faith in Jesus".

What a blessing to witness the return of  joy in her life.

After I retired, we seldom saw one another again, but kept in touch by E-mail from time to time.

I met her in a shopping centre per chance a couple of months ago and although she was still her positive, joyful self, she complained about her health not being good and I saw that her legs and feet were very swollen.

That was the last time I saw her.

Now she is gone.

The words of 2 Tim. 4:7 comes to mind:

                       "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith".

.... that she did! That indeed, was her ultimate achievement! Notwithstanding the terrible hurdles and obstacles in her way, she finished the race keeping the faith! Although for a little while she stumbled, and lay on the track not believing that she could carry on, she got up and notwithstanding the circumstances, she prevailed - she completed the race!

Heb. 12:1-2:

                   "Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses,
                   let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let
                   us run with endurance the race that is set before us looking unto Jesus, the
                   author and finisher of our faith who for the joy that was set before Him endured
                   the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the
                   throne of God."

On Sunday morning, sitting in church, I watched a severely handicapped man, his left arm drawn up againt his body, his left hand deformed, his right hand clutching a walking stick with the help of which he was slowly, painfully, making his way to his pew to participate in the praise singing and to listen to the Word, and I could not help thinking "This man is a witness to all of us who are physically whole, who so easily take going to church and participating in the service for granted."

Jeanine's life, and that of this man are testimony to the power of God to keep us in the race - to activate our faith - to testify to the greatness of God Almighty.

Their battle was as real as any battle fought in the boxing ring, but it was not a battle against other human beings.

Ephesians 6:12 says:

                "For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities,
                against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against
                spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places."

Let us therefore not be discouraged at what this world and life may throw at us. Let us look at the cloud of witnesses around us who show us how to live and how not to live, let us live as set out in Phillipians 3: 14:

                 "I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."

1 Thessalonians 4: 13-18:

                  "But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have
                  fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. For if we believe
                  that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who
                  sleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are
                  alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those
                  who are asleep. For the Lord, Himself will descend from heaven with a shout,
                  with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in
                  Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up
                  together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we
                  shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these
                  words."

Thank You, Lord, that your Word is a comfort in all circumstances. Thank You, for all the witnesses around us showing us the way not to live, and the right way to  live to Your glory.