“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I kept the faith.”
II Timothy 4:7
Every year about this time I ask myself, “how did they do it?” How did they endure all the trials and tribulations of life with incredible strength and enduring faith? How is it that their impact upon our lives was so powerful that we realize that what they were witnessing was intended to pass the most precious gift they could offer to us, their gift of faith. When I think of the saints, my mind does not go to names etched in stone rather to those lives who are forever emblazoned upon my soul. O the saints of our lives; they would have hardly considered themselves saints, in fact they would have denied being in such exclusive company. Yet God gave each of them a gift that they in turn shared with us. The saints rose to the challenges that life dealt, and the challenges we probably dealt to them! But they could do no less than love us even more. They fought the good fight armed with the tools of grace, love, and hope. It could not have been easy, surely it was not. Yet the witness they shared has become very much a part of how each of us are today. William How penned these words over 150 years ago and they continue to sing from the lips of Christians celebrating the amazing gift that God has offered; “For all the saints, who from their labors rest, who thee by faith before the world confessed.” How did they do it? They shared their faith with every step they took and with every breath and with every fiber of their being hoped beyond hope that others would come to know the incredible joy of faith that they lived every day. For all the saints, O Lord we give you thanks. For all the saints, O Lord who shared their lives and their witness with us, we give you thanks May the witness of the incredible people God has put in your path offer you hope and the faith to “fight the good fight” of faith and give the gift of faith to another. For all the saints; “they have fought the good fight, they finished the race, and kept the faith.”
Fields United Methodist Church 