It Ain't Over 'Til It's Over

After the major campaign to secure the Promised Land was over, Caleb came to Joshua and said, "So here I am today, eighty-five years old.   I am still as strong today as the day Moses sent me out; I'm just as vigorous to go out to battle now as I was then. Now give me this hill country that the Lord promised me that day. You yourself heard then that the Anakites were there and their cities were large and fortified, but, the Lord helping me, I will drive them out just as he said" (Josh 14:10-12    

Yesterday, I met with a 95 year-old veteran and his bride of 11 years.  He had been a bachelor the first eighty-four years of his life, before meeting and marrying the woman he had been waiting for.  Just when most men would consider their lives pretty much over, this gentleman was just beginning a new chapter.

Perhaps you've read about the 100 year-old Santa Clara man, Don Pellmann, who just set five world records for Senior Olympics in 100 degree weather.  He blew the top off  of records set in the high jump, the long jump, 100-meter dash, shot put and discus over a five-hour period of competition.  Since he began Senior Olympics, at the tender age of 70, he has won hundreds of gold medals.

So, why am I talking about these rare exceptions to the human condition?  Because they are not.  They are not rare exceptions to the human condition, they are rare exceptions to human conditioning. In other words, it's not that we can't keep on keeping on as we reach advanced age, it's that we don't choose to do what it takes to begin exercising at 70, marry at 84 or take the hill country at 85.

Proper rest, exercise, diet - conditioning, not condition.  The human condition allows for  us to reach advanced ages and still be healthy.  This is true physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually.  Our conditioning, or lack thereof, will determine whether we experience that healthiness or not (of course, things can happen to us regardless of conditioning but the exceptions do not discount the rule).

So, let me ask you: Do you eat right, sleep right, exercise right, pray right, study your Bible right, serve others right, do right, etc.?  Is it your goal to be an effective servant of God, even in your closing years?  Are you willing to condition your mind, body and soul to keep on keeping on?  You know, as Yogi Berra said, "It ain't over 'til it's over."  But it's over when you choose to stop.

Solomon said, "Whatever your hand find to do, do it with all your might" (Eccl 9:10).  Your might will not always be the same, but you can always use all of your might.  Instead of laying down and giving up, why not get up and lay down a new challenge, a renewed effort, a reset on life?  Jus' Ask'n.