Weekly Devotion | January 2, 2025
The Finish Line
At Cross Country meets, it’s sometimes hard to find the best place to view the action. The 5-kilometer trail usually loops in and out of woodland areas, across fields, and sometimes into a stadium. The starting line is easy but very crowded. The halfway point is a good place to encourage runners, but difficult to time just right. The best place is the last 100 meters to the finish line – the final sprint. Some of the best pictures of my kids are when they are accelerating at that last part of the course to cross the finish line.
The interesting thing about the finish line is that you don’t just stop and stand there. The runners can’t just stop and clog up the finish line area. All runners continue through the line and hustle away to a recovery area. This helps the body wind down after the final sprint. The recovery area is where the body cools down and prepares for another race. Most of the time the runners can run again that day, they just need to catch their breath. Because as an athlete in this sport, there will always be another race to run.
We called our December push for tithes and offerings a “Race to the Finish”. Our goal was to raise $130,000 in the entire month to balance our budget. I’m pleased to announce we raised just over $164,000. This was an extremely strong finish! However, we don’t just stand at the finish line admiring where we’ve been. We continue through the finish line, hustling into another year of ministry work.
The writer of Hebrews encourages us to “run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.”(12:1-2). Christ has great plans for us this year as we look forward to amazing worship experiences, diving into Bible studies and new service opportunities. Thank you for your faithfulness as we prepare for another great year of ministry in 2025.
As a reminder, we are having our church-wide retreat Saturday, January 25th from 9am- 3pm in the Wesley Building. We will plan new exciting ministries and fine-tune the ones we already have. Please make a point to come so that we start off this new year on a high note running forward. You could say we will be planning out a new “race course” for this coming year.
You can RSVP to attend the retreat by CLICKING HERE or emailing the church office at: office@madisonfumc.com
Peace,
