“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” (2 Timothy 4:7, NIV 1984).

I was visiting Ron today. I had been on the periphery of his medical care, but mostly he was my friend, stuck in his home with a stroke and a broken leg. After we had chatted awhile, I noticed a college diploma from Tusculum University and asked him where Tusculum was located.

“Greeneville, Tennessee,” he said, “but I never set foot on the campus.” He added, “I completed my degree while I was working by internet and took classes at an extension center here in town.”

“I really admire you,” I responded. “It had to be hard while working full-time. Did your degree help you move up in your company?”

“No,” he replied. “I was already as far as I would get in the business.”

“When did you graduate,” I asked him.

“Two years ago, when I was 63,” he answered.

“But, you were already having serious health issues then, weren’t you?”

“Yes,” he said. “In fact, I had a heart attack going to one of my statistics classes. Got over it and finished.”

Some people call it a “bucket list.” Some just call it unfinished business.

What’s in your bucket list for the Lord?

How hard are you working to complete your unfinished business for God? Are you too old? Too tired? Too apathetic? Too self-centered?

I am amazed at my friend’s determination to complete his college degree. Do I possess the same determination to complete God’s plan for my life? That personal witness to my neighbor? That international mission? That giving? That Bible memorization? That commitment to the uninsured? That service to the poor in my community?

If I “suffered a heart attack on the way to statistics class,” would I still finish the tasks my God has assigned me?

Ron did not let age, or even health disaster, come between him and his diploma. I stand amazed.

The angels are waiting to stand amazed at our stories, at our determination to complete all that God has whispered in our ears. I wonder how patient the angels are.

Dear Father,
Let me get it done, as You have asked.
Amen