Commi-TEA-ment to Finishing Well

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

(2 TIMOTHY 4:7, ESV)

Finishing well. Faithfulness in the long haul. 

in previous verses of chapter 4, Paul had exhorted Timothy to preach the word, to endure all for the sake of the sake of the gospel. Paul, himself, had put his life's effort into completing the "course" which God had set before him and now his time for departure had come. (death) Paul left nothing undone. He remained committed to the faith.

Faithfulness: a long obedience in the same direction. (Cole Huffman)

No cuppa mediocri-TEA served by Paul. He chose a cuppa full commi-TEA-ment until the end. He had poured his life into Timothy---for the sake of the gospel.

What "tea" is in your cuppa faith? Mediocri-TEA or full commi-TEA-ment? Something to ponder in the New Year.

Pho-TEA-graphs in the mind

He stilled the storm to a whisper; the waves of the sea were hushed. (Psalm 107:29, NIV)

Word Pictures. Auditory to visual. Sometimes a single word or phrase evokes mental pictures. Certainly in God's word there are terms that remind us of life in all its forms. Warring. Race. Wrestling. Journey. Climb. Voyage. Storm.

Life:

• a fight or a race as Paul describes in (2 Timothy 4:7), 
• a wrestling match for Jacob, a man of never ending life struggles who wrestles with God, until God blesses Him after the "divine encounter," (Genesis 32:24-30)
• a journey as Abraham followed God's leading away from kin and kindred, (Genesis 12) 
• a climb "surefooted upon the heights" as Habakkuk 3:19 relates, 
• a voyage as Jonah in the whale's belly (Jonah 1:17)
• a storm--as the disciples experience in the stormy seas, (John 6:16-21) 

Of all the word pictures, storms and whirlwinds seem to resonate loudest with me, thus producing striking images. Storms of life agitate me---then grow. Just as the stirring waters in the ocean, can bring about ferocious storms when churned by the fierce winds.
That's when I have to call out to the One who is in the whirlwind, (Job 38:1) and recall the words of the psalmist in Psalm 89:11, "When the waves arise, Thou stillest them." His calm....deep within each human heart. An undisturbable calm available when one is in His Presence.

And no storm, however fierce or violent,
Disturbs the soul that dwells, O Lord, inThee. ---Harriet Beecher Stowe.

A cuppa served with pho-TEA-graphs of the mind to soothe a soul.