Some wise person somewhere once said, "It's not where you start...it's where you finish that counts!" We see that all the time in sports, in business and in life itself. Someone starts in the back of the pack and perseveres to get to the front. One can start with nothing and end up wealthy, (especially in our great country), or someone can start with lots and end up with nothing. That holds true in the physical and especially the spiritual realm. Paul reminds us of this in his letter to the young evangelist, Timothy.

The apostle Paul started as a zealous persecutor of Christians, and wound up being the banner carrier for Christianity, even to the point of death. How different from the way he started to the way he finished. As he told Timothy...

2 Tim 4:7 “...I have fought the good fight, I have fini- shed the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing."

It is where you finish that counts. Take a look at yourself. Where did you start and where will you finish? Finishing the course faithfully is what will count in the end.