I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. – II Timothy 4:7
Sometimes I find myself asking the question, “Where did the years go so quickly?” In some ways it feels like it was just yesterday that I had arrived at St. Luke’s and was about to turn 40. Recently, I was informed that next summer, three months before I turn 65, I need to sign up for Medicare.
I still hope to have many productive years ahead of me, but from time to time, you need to sit down and take stock of where you are and where you hope to go in your life. Recently, I discovered how someone else made a conscious decision to focus on the last years of their life.
In January, I had the privilege of leading a Service of Celebration for the life of Dr. Jack David Armold. Jack David was an ordained United Methodist clergy who died at the age of 90. I was the one tasked with sharing Jack David’s life story in the context of the Gospel, hopefully helping others to find comfort and hope in this time of loss. But, as so often happens, I found myself being the one who found hope and wisdom in places I did not expect. In this case, it was in Jack David’s story that I found a nugget of wisdom.
I had been told that his credo was, “Finish well.” That’s what he wanted to do over the last years of his life so he continued to find ways to serve and learn. Jack David lived by the creed after having several stops and starts in earlier life. When Jack David passed from this life into the next, he had experienced 35 years of sobriety. Early in his life, Jack David served churches in many states and taught at the university level at several schools. But his battle with alcohol held him back and, in some cases, caused him to lose his position at a school or church.
I’m guessing it must have been a lonely life in some regards trying to keep the secret of his drinking to himself. That’s why it was no surprise when Jack David started an AA group in Yukon in the early 2000s called, “You Are Never Alone.”
As I look at the “fourth quarter” of my life, I find the idea of finishing well a useful creed to live by. I don’t know what these years ahead will bring, but I believe God wants us to be productive as long as we have breath.
Like Dr. Jack David Armold, I hope that someday people will be able to say about me… he fought the good fight, he finished the race, and he kept the faith.
Rev. Dave Poteet, Pastor of Congregational Care
