Finishing Well
Finishing well is the single most important mission that we need to focus on! I was reading at Rural Revolution and saw that she had listed a quote from SurvivalBlog
“The disciplined warrior, made irrelevant by by mechanized war, disdained and abandoned by the high-tech culture, is fading in American men. The fading of the warrior contributes to the collapse of society. A man who cannot defend his own space cannot defend women and children. The poisoned warriors called drug lords prey primarily for recruits on kingless, warriorless boys.” – Robert Bly in Iron John, 1990
Touch the Clouds- a famous Minneconjou chief
If one were to study the quote for a moment we would uncover some of the issues American society is dealing with now. The warrior society that the American Indians had were predicated on men standing tall in battle.There was not a dependence on technology and pride was taken in not losing a lot of men.
The disappearance of disciplined warriors in American society is having a major impact. No longer do we value and honor men of courage that do the right thing. As I talked about after Joe Paterno was fired. We need to stand up and announce to the world that it will not happen on our watch.
Sometimes we will have to stand alone but it is imperative that we have real men that protect the weak. Finishing well ensures that protection is present. We have a model that has been laid out for us.
And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.Joshua 24:15
The bible teaches us about being a disciplined warrior. We must strive to become the Godly men that he intended for us. The first step is men on our knees with hands lifted. We can accomplish many things with prayer.
One of the things that all Fathers need to do is teach our children. In his book Rite of Passage by Jim McBride he says “The problem is that so many men today never learned what it really means to be a man.” That has to be one of the leading causes in the failure of American society. Simply telling a child to go and be successful is not enough. We must stand up and teach our children a biblically grounded way of life.
Many people that may read this will say that it is to late for them or their children. It is never to late to equip someone. Finishing well is the apex in sports. The amazing movie Courageous has a scene where the character says “It is time for men of courage to Stand Up” He did not start out well as a father. Many thought he was good enough, but he wanted to finish well. We all must strive to finishing well.