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I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.

2 Timothy 4:7  (NIV)

 

Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength.  They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

Isaiah 40:30-31   (NIV)

 

For those of us wondering why we should have to be living is such a time as this:

 

“I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo.

"So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”

J.R.R. Tolkien The Fellowship of the Ring

The Man in the Arena

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.

- Theodore Roosevelt   (Excerpt from the speech "Citizenship In A Republic" delivered at the Sorbonne, in Paris, France on 23 April, 1910)

Motivation

Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing. 

1 Thessalonians 5:11 (NIV)

 

But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called "Today," so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness. 

Hebrews 3:13 (NIV)

 

Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works.

Hebrews 10:24 (NLT)

 

Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.

Ephesians 4:29 (NIV)

 

And we urge you, brothers and sisters, warn those who are idle and disruptive, encourage the disheartened, help the weak, be patient with everyone.

1 Thessalonians 5:14 (NIV)

Coach Jim Valvano, less than two months before his death from cancer in 1993.

Much can be done by man; he can both labour and watch; but without the Lord he has accomplished nothing, and his wakefulness has not warded off evil.

- Charles Spurgeon

 

Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."

Matthew 19:26

 

Let us make sure that we do not labor in vain.  Remember that God has done impossible things using frail instruments such as ourselves. 

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