A Finisher!

As we speak, my dear husband is engaged in what he calls the Union Pass Tri-State Century.  This is a 100-mile bike ride touching Arizona, Nevada, and California, with 6100 feet of elevation climb.  In a few hours he will arrive home dog tired, starving, and down about 5 pounds, so I have a roast in the crock-pot and supper plans for mashed potatoes, veggies, melon, and a loaf of fresh bread right from the machine. Some cookies or cake would be in order, too, don’t you think?  Anyway, does this kind of a ride sound fun to you?  It doesn’t to me! It sounds grueling. Exhausting.  Strenuous enough to make to make me vomit several times en route.  I just shake my head when he undertakes these “fun” rides! 

 

But you know what?  This part of his personality is one of the things I love about my man.  My husband is a member of the Caleb Club of Joshua 14:12.  That is reserved for men who are willing to fight and gruel and sweat and persevere and conquer the mountains in their lives. I am married to a man who faithfully got up for work at 2:30 a.m. and waited for the bus in dark, wet, windy and FREEZING sub-zero temps, to meet the needs of his family. (See why we like Arizona now?) When God called him to go to Canada, he obeyed the Lord and we went, without waiting to see how God was going to provide for us.  When he was out of a regular job, he tagged barrettes at Target for minimum wage. He has taken tickets at event parking and worked security. (Borrrring!)  He was willing to do whatever was necessary for us to survive, and to keep his wife home with his children.  He fought without complaining, and he achieved his goal.

 

He is the same way with truth.  He has fought and strived and contended for truth whether it was popular or not.  Once, after many hours spent with just his Bible and the Lord, he stood at the pulpit and confessed that he had been wrong on a particular doctrinal issue, and that he had also taught it wrong.  Another time he was “fired” from a ministry for standing for a moral issue, and was left 2000 miles from home, high and dry with a family of five, and no financial support.  But humiliation didn’t keep him from continuing in God’s work.  Still he fights against the current. 

 

Although it is sometimes difficult for me, I am proud to be married to a man like that.  He stands his ground.  He won’t be moved.  There is coming a day in America when men like him won’t have the freedom to preach truth publicly.  I am thankful to have a husband who, by God’s grace, will not compromise on conviction. By God’s grace, he will go to his grave like Caleb did, still fighting the enemies of the Lord, and still contending for his mountain!  I am so very thankful to know that when things get hard, my man will keep going, and he will finish.

 

Yes, my husband will be exhausted when he gets home from his ride, but he will have finished!We girls will greet him in a few hours with, “Well done, Daddy!” When he finishes his life’s race, it will be the Lord Jesus greeting him.  He will say, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant!”  I thank the Lord for giving me a man who will never make me ashamed of loving him. My husband is a finisher. He's a winner!