Finishing Well!

The shadows are lengthening for me. The twilight is here. My days of old have vanished, tone and tint; they have gone glimmering through the dreams of things that were.

Their memory is one of wondrous beauty, watered by tears, and coaxed and caressed by the smiles of yesterday.

I listen vainly, but with thirsty ear, for the witching melody of faint bugles blowing reveille, of far drums beating the long roll.

In my dreams I hear again the crash of guns, the rattle of musketry, the strange mournful mutter of the battlefield.

But in the evening of my memory, I always come back to West Point. Always there echoes and re-echoes in my ears--Duty, Honor, Country. Today marks my final roll call with you. …

I bid you farewell.

Mammertine Prison

Final Release (4:6)

6 For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come.

A “departure” was a ….

Sailor’s word Sacrificial word Soldier’s word

A Philosopher’s Word

The Gordian Knot

A “departure” was a ….

Sailor’s word Sacrificial word Soldier’s word Philosopher’s word Prisoner's word

Finished Course (4:7)

7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith;

The Fighting Soldier

The Focused Athlete

The Faithful Servant

Future Reward (4:8)

8 in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.

Mammertine Prison

Mammertine Prison

“Paul had passed through life as an insignificant player on Rome's pretentious stage. He died unnoticed by the mighty and wise of his age. Yet how infinitely more noble, beneficial and enduring was his life and work than the dazzling march of military conquerors like Alexander and Napoleon, who prompted by ambition, absorbed millions of treasure and a myriad of lives only to die at last in a drunken fit at Babylon, or of a broken heart on the rocks of St. Helena. Their empires have long since crumbled to dust.”

Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church, 8 vols. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1910), 1:331.

Yet, that lonely old man had launched a movement which would change the course of history. Rome is no more!

A Life Well Lived!