« February 2007 | Main | May 2007 »
Well, tomorrow the spring quarter will start. This will hopefully be my final quarter as a graduate student. I plan to graduate in June. Am I excited about finishing up my schooling here at Fuller? Sure, but I have my work cut out for me. As I mentioned in my last entry I want and need to finish strong. What is the reason for wanting to finish out my last quarter strong. Stay tuned...
I was hoping to blog more in the last couple of weeks, well it did not happen. Midterms came, and then papers and now finals are in the horizon. In the mist of all this I somehow found time to run one ultra marathon, a 50 miler, in January and I just finished the Los Angeles marathon this past Sunday. In light of this, I want to talk about finishing well.
In one of my classes actually all three classes that I have taken with Dr. Clinton, I call him Bobby, he always talks about how Bible centered leaders need and should finishing well. Somehow I during my time here at Fuller, I cannot get rid of that phrase. Even when I run an ultra marathon or a marathon, I could hear Bobby saying in the back of my mind, good leaders finish well, thus a good runner needs to finish well. In my mind that means running as hard as I can across the finish line no matter what place I finish.
Therefore, what makes a leader finish well? Bobby lists six major characteristics of leaders who finish well (Clinton, 2006):
1. Leaders maintain a personal vibrant relationship with God right up to the end
2. Leaders maintain a learning posture and can learn from various kinds of sources-life especially.
3. They evidence Christ likeness in character as shown by the fruit of the Spirit in their lives.
4. Truth is lived out in their lives so that convictions and promises of God are seen to be real.
5. They leave behind one or more ultimate contributions.
6. They walk with a growing awareness of a sense of destiny and see some or all of it fulfilled.
If you want to know more about leaders who finish well, well you will just have to take one of Bobby Clinton’s courses. Anyway, hopefully these characteristics will give you the desire to finish well in all that you do for the Lord, whether you are finishing up school, in ministry, at work, and or at home regardless if you are a leader or not a leader.
The question I leave with you is: Will you be a person who will finish well?
Works Cited
Clinton, Bobby. 2006. Having a Ministry that Lasts: by Becoming a Bible Centered Leader. Altadena, CA (accessed March 6, 2007).