What’s in a name? I’d like to say a few words about “naming” this regular email. As you may note from our logo, I love cycling. In 1969, I rode a bicycle 3500 miles from Miami – Seattle. That trip took us (40 men) 35 days, averaging 100 miles a day. 46 years later I can still nearly recount each day’s journey, and I’ve been a serious cyclist ever since.
One of the things I love about cycling is the peloton. The peloton is simply the main pack of cyclists riding together. Riding in the peloton reduces the wind drag on the riders as much as 40%! There is strength in the peloton. The peloton pulls you along through the race, really helping each other. The peloton has always served to me as a picture of the church – riders staying close together, always helping each other, climbing mountains and crossing valleys, always pulling each other along. That’s the way I think of “Finishing Well Ministries.” We are not a group of individualists, but rather we are a group of men and women riding together in the journey of finishing well for the glory of Christ.
When I think of the peloton, I think of riders helping each other (see the footnote below). In just a few weeks (July 4), the Tour de France begins the first of its 21 stages. It is the greatest cycling race in the world. When you watch it, you will see the peloton in motion. It is amazing. Riding in the peloton provides additional strength in that it helps conserve energy, it protects from cross winds, it provides encouragement, and it prevents isolation.
Dr. Howard Hendricks often referred to a study he had done on Christian leaders who had major moral failures. One of the things they had in common was the absence of personal accountability. That’s what happens when you drop off the peloton. Satan will chase you down and there may not be anyone there to protect you.
So, STAY IN THE PELOTON. We need each other. Keep others close to you, and they will help you finish well. Let’s do what the Scriptures exhort us to do:
One of Satan’s strategies is isolation. If he can isolate us, he can get at us quicker than ever. There is no one around us to help protect us from the cross winds or headwinds of discouragement and temptation. If we are riding alone, there’s no one to pull us along. It is hard to ride alone in the race of life – even harder to finish well. If we are riding alone, it’s easier for Satan to chase us down such as is pictured in this photo which I love. Stay in the peloton. Isolation can be hazardous to your spiritual health.
"...let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near". Hebrews 10.24-25
CONSIDER THE WORD
And even when I am old and gray, O God, do not forsake me, Until I declare Your strength to this generation, Your power to all who are to come (Psalm 71.18).
As older people, we have an opportunity that younger people simply do not have. We have the opportunity and privilege to declare God’s strength and power to the generations following us through the additional years God has entrusted to us that younger people simply do not have yet. Those additional years are an essential part of our life story. Younger people cannot share out of what they have not experienced.
We can share that faith with our adult children. We can share God’s faithfulness with our grandchildren. Just as we can look at the “hall of faith” in Hebrews 11, faithful parents, faithful grandparents, and faithful great grandparents have the incredible privilege of proclaiming God’s faithfulness and power with those coming along behind us – even those who are yet to be born.
Our challenge to older Christians who are a part of an older generation (10,000 baby boomers turn 65 every day) is to encourage others following us. As an older generation of followers of Christ, we need to do the following.
Encourage a younger generation every Sunday when we gather for worship. Seek out younger people. Encourage them in the midst of their challenges. Pray for them by name.
Encourage a younger person during the week by inviting them to breakfast or lunch, and encourage them. Pray for them and bless them before you leave.
Encourage your adult children. Pray for them when they are absent, and pray for them when you are with them.
Invest in your grandchildren and encourage them. Pray for them when they are absent and pray for them when you are with them.
If you still work in the marketplace, encourage your fellow-workers.
Encourage everyone around you. Encourage others – in the grocery store, restaurant staff, Starbucks – wherever you go.
For those of us with grandkids, let’s talk to others about Jesus as much or more as we talk about our grandkids. We cannot talk about Jesus too much, can we?
LIFE ISSUES
On May 19, my mother entered heaven at the age of 96, and she illustrated these truths. I wrote about her in a recent blog (https://halhabecker.wordpress.com/). As I reflected on her life, here are 7 highlights as to how she declared God’s strength and power to her children, her grandchildren, and all those who knew her.
1. Whatever our age, are we passionately loving Jesus and thinking about being in Him and abiding in Him? That’s a mark of “finishing well.”
2. Her life was consumed with listening to God through His written Word. At whatever our age, are we passionate about prioritizing the Word of God? Consider Joshua 1.8. Is the Word of God “in our mouth,” and are we “meditating on it” day and night? It was for my mother. Her Bible is well-worn, giving evidence that she immersed herself in the Word of God. What is amazing to me is that this Bible served as her anchor point when her six children were just little people growing up! That’s a mark of “finishing well.”
3. She was always giving her life away to encourage and help others. She remembered the words of Jesus, “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20.35). That’s a mark of “finishing well.”
4. She prayed for others constantly. She had a lengthy prayer list, and as her health limitations grew towards the end of her life, I believe her prayer life consumed more and more of her day. I take this very personally. I wonder how much of whatever success God has entrusted to me in my 40 years of ministry is an answer to the prayers of my mother? More than I would ever imagine. That’s a mark of “finishing well.”
5. She was always thankful. I rarely heard her complain even though she certainly had her many critical challenges in life. Whatever difficulties or challenges that face us, are we giving thanks for them and growing through them? That’s a mark of “finishing well.”
6. She was filled with praise. She could not have a conversation without first giving God praise. Every conversation was peppered with praise. So wherever we are in life, whatever our lot, whatever our age, whatever our circumstance, are we praising God? That’s a mark of “finishing well.”
7. She trusted a loving, sovereign God. She never doubted His goodness. She trusted a sovereign Lord who was ahead of her, behind her, and with her, planning each step of her life as she followed and abided in Him. She lived with that faith every day to her very last day. That’s a mark of “finishing well.”
As I think about my own life, I wonder what my children and grandchildren might about their dad’s life and how he finished well? What will your children say about your life?
OUR WORK IN FWM
Finishing Well Ministries continues to aim at developing strategic partnerships with selected churches, parachurch ministries, and institutions for the purpose of mobilizing senior adults for the kingdom of God and the local church. Senior adults can impact the kingdom of God as never before.
Consider this thought from Chuck Kelly, President of New Orleans Baptist Seminary.
The simple fact of senior adults living longer sets in motion many ripples. Older adults will be an important influence in our churches for a significantly longer time than was true in the past. They will not only be present, they will be active. They will not only be active, they will be vocal. In most congregations, a strategic plan for the future that does not incorporate the needs, values and gifts of senior adults is incomplete.
Kelly closes his column with this final paragraph.
Not since the days of Noah has God done for a generation of people what He is doing for this generation of senior adults. Celebrate your extended life, health and resources as His gift for His purposes. Use these additional years for His glory.
This is our mission. God is using FWM as an important part of His plan to encourage, strengthen, and mobilize senior adults who themselves can lead a senior’s revolution to impact their churches and their world.
Thanks for praying for this ministry. Thanks for your friendship in encouraging us. Thanks for your investment in supporting us financially.
Warmly,
Hal Habecker
If you live in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area, I want to invite you to an event at which I will be speaking on the topic of “Finishing Well.” Please consider joining us for this evening (and the other two evenings will be exceptional as well).
P.S. I have launched a blog. For the most part, I’m doing this to complement the work of Finishing Well Ministries, but I’m sure you will find various things in it that reflect some of what God is teaching me. Come follow us at http://halhabecker.wordpress.com
