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      • 6. Reflections on an Election
      • 7. For Me to Live is Maintenance
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      • 8. From Common Sense to nonsense
      • 9. Left Behind
      • 10. Owners or Guardians?
      • 11. From Honeymoon Harmony to Divorce
      • 12. For Goodness Sake
      • 13. A Perfect Prayer
      • 14. No is not a Negative
      • 15. What My Shoes have Taught Me
      • 16. For Mercy Sake
      • 17. The Attack on America
      • 18. The Motivation of a Sucide Terrorest
      • 19. The Message of the Terorist
      • 20. The Anthrax Scare
      • 21. Real Thanksgiving
      • 22. I have been Robbed!
    • 2002 Articles 23-39 >
      • 23. A Tribute to George
      • 24. Church Math
      • 25. Marriage Math
      • 26. How Sad
      • 27. The Anatomy of an Affair
      • 28. "I have a Problem."
      • 29. When
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      • 31. Under God
      • 32. An "Honest" Thief
      • 33. Why does Life have to be so Difficult?
      • 34. A Tribute to Maria
      • 35. What Jesus' Words Have Taught Me
      • 36. Who Ministers to the Minister?
      • 37. The Whiner
      • 38. Reckoned Righteous by Works
      • 39. Are New Year's Resolutions Biblical?
    • 2003 Articles 40-53 >
      • 40. One of the Greatest Need America
      • 41. Your Memorial Table
      • 42. George W. Bush Verses Saddam Hussein
      • 43. Learning to Listen
      • 44. The Problem with Gambling
      • 45. Memorial Day
      • 46. My Ecounter with an Orthhodox Jew
      • 47. Scott Free
      • 48. What My Auto Accident Taught Me
      • 49. The Decline in Family Living
      • 50. Give Me a Problem
      • 51. Decoding the Da Vinci Code
      • 52. Thanksgiving is not a Holiday
      • 53. What a Christmas Present!
    • 2004 Articles 54-67 >
      • 54. What Do You Mean by that?
      • 55. What are Parents to Do?
      • 56. "The Passion of Christ"
      • 57. Martha Stewart's Greatest Lesson
      • 58. Same Sex Marriage
      • 59. A Tribute to a Servant
      • 60. Happy Marriages
      • 61. Independence
      • 62. Kerry's Logic
      • 63. The Olympic Spirit
      • 64. Playing Cards
      • 65. Cardinal Virtures
      • 66. Now that the Election is over
      • 67. Tribute to My Mother
    • 2005 Articles 68-79 >
      • 68. Real Spiritual Growth
      • 69. No Time to Think
      • 70. The Ten Commandments Controversy
      • 71. Do We Need a Pope?
      • 72. Everybody Loves Raymond
      • 73. Examples Worthy of Note
      • 74. How Two Different People Learned to Get Along
      • 75. "The God who Wasn't"
      • 76. Katrina and Now Rita!
      • 77. Would You Say "No" to $4 Million?
      • 78. "In God We Trust"
      • 79. The Redemption of Tookie Willaims
    • 2006 Articles 80-91 >
      • 80. Is Religion a Problem?
      • 81. The Rights of the Born
      • 82. Did You Hear What She Said about Muslims?
      • 83. Judas: Betrayer or Best Friend?
      • 84. Weekend or Week--Beginning?
      • 85. A Tribute to My (Spiritual) Father
      • 86. Your Relationship to the Word of God
      • 87. What an Opportunity!
      • 88. America's Four Gods
      • 89. How to Deal with Your Enemies
      • 90. The Case for Systematic Exposition
      • 91. Don't Miss the Message
    • 2007 Articles 92-104 >
      • 92. I can Afford it!
      • 93. The Gospel according to Patricia
      • 94. The Functional Church
      • 95. Who wants to Deal with a Taxman?
      • 96. Vital Virtures
      • 97. Have You Grown up Yet?
      • 98. A July 4th Reminder
      • 99. The Volume of Silence
      • 100. Biblical Illiteracy
      • 101. A Modest Political Propospal
      • 102. How to Handle Credit Cards
      • 103. When it is Tough to be Thankful
      • 104. Romney's Religion
    • 2008 Articles 105-114 >
      • 105. Continue
      • 106. A Tribute to Jack
      • 107. Why Good Ftiday?
      • 108. Happy Birthday
      • 109. The Most Important Room in the House
      • 110. The 80-20 Rule
      • 111. Be Sensible
      • 112. To Be Like Christ
      • 113. Sweet Reasonableness
      • 114. The Other Benefit of Christmas
    • 2009 Articles 115-126 >
      • 115. What Determines who Obtains Eternal Life?
      • 116. The Healing Touch
      • 117. The Function of Dysfunction
      • 118. When Your World Falls Apart
      • 119. 24-7-365
      • 120. To Complain or not to Complain
      • 121. "Suggestions"
      • 122. Making a Mark
      • 123. God's Timing
      • 124. Jesus Wept
      • 125. Andrew
      • 126. The Cost of Service
    • 2010 Articles 127-138 >
      • 127. Don't Ask; Don't Tell
      • 128. A Forest Dark
      • 129. The Rule of Law
      • 130. The Hits and Miss of Grace
      • 131. People Need the Lord
      • 132. Examples Worthy of Notes
      • 133. A Hassle Reduction Strategy
      • 134. Gossip
      • 135. My Favorite Poem
      • 136. Let's Put the Cross in its Place
      • 137. "Don't Spare Me"
      • 138 The Unseen Message of Christmas
    • 2011 Articles 139-147 >
      • 139. What Parents Should Teach their Children
      • 140. How to Avoid Having to Serve
      • 141. What Happen to Mike?
      • 142. An Atheist Recommends God
      • 143. Surprise
      • 144. Socialism
      • 145. Union, Unity, and Uniformity
      • 146. Get in the Way
      • 147. "Let George do it."
    • 2012 Articles 148-160 >
      • 148. Truth or Consequences
      • 149. Don't Leave Home without it
      • 150. Take a Break
      • 151. The Worth of an Individual
      • 152. A Tribute to Nana
      • 153. Jesus Crossed the Line
      • 154. Thomas Jefferson
      • 155. Taxes
      • 156. You Must be Present to Win
      • 157. A Grandfather's Wish
      • 158. Trials. Temptations, and Tests
      • 159. Is There a Santa Claus?
      • 160. A Tribute to Sumner Wemp
    • 2013 Articles 161-172 >
      • 161. How to Finish Well
      • 162. Rewards
      • 163. Spiritual Binging
      • 164. There is no way out of this one
      • 165. Half Empty or Half Full
      • 166. Nones
      • 167. Greet One Another with a Holy Kiss
      • 168. God's Answer to Atheism
      • 169. Obedience
      • 170. The Problem of Fellowship with God
      • 171. Character Development
      • 172. For Mercy's Sake
    • 2014 Articles 173-180 >
      • 173. Lies
      • 174. Endure to the End
      • 175. Teaching Children How Money Grows
      • 176. The Principle of Delay
      • 177. By Their Fruit
      • 178. Sermons that Changed My Life
      • 179. If Paul Harvey were the Devil
      • 180. The Principle of Practice
    • 2015 Articles 181- >
      • 181. In Wrath Remember Mercy
      • 182. Choosing the Right Shepherd
      • 183. The Lord's Requirements
      • 184. Your Ear Lobe. Thumb, and Big Toe
      • More articles will be added as they are written
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                          Endure to the End

  The 1991 World Series was a contest between the Atlanta Braves
and the Minnesota Twins. After six games in the seven-game World Series, each team had won three games. Whoever won the seventh game would win the World Series. 

In the seventh game, after seven innings, the score was tied  0-0. During the eighth inning Lonnie Smith made it to first base. Terry Pendleton then hit a deep line drive. Lonnie Smith raced from first base headed toward second. The ball bounced off the left-center field wall, which means that Smith could have scored, but as he rounded second base he inexplicably stopped.

 There are several explanations of what happened. Smith said he lost the ball in the white ceiling of the Metrodome. Replays show he was fooled
by the Twins’ second baseman Chuck Knoblauch, who pretended to catch a throw from the outfield. Whatever happened, by the time Smith realized his mistake he was only able to make it to third base. By the end of the inning, he was stranded at third base. Smith was never able to score in that situation. The Minnesota Twins won the game in the 10th inning by a score of 1-0.

 After the grueling training of spring camp, after a victorious season of winning more games than anyone else, after a hard-fought series that
came down to the eighth inning of the last game, the Atlanta Braves made a
mistake at the end.

 Do not lose the series at the end of the last game. The writer to the Hebrews puts it like this: “We desire that each of you show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope until the end, that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises” (Hebrews 6:11-12). 
 
The expression “full assurance of hope”implies that, at the moment, their confidence in the future expectation was lacking (Guthrie). It had
“chilled” and needed to be “rekindled” (Westcott). The Greek word translated “desire” expresses a “strong personal—even passionate desire” (Westcott), not a “pious wish” (Guthrie). Thus, the intense desire of the author is that each one of these believers would not be sluggish, but that each one would be an imitator of those who through faith and patience inherited the promises of God. In other words, mimic those who trusted the Lord to fulfil His promise to the very end of their lives.

 Do not labor for the Lord all your life and hesitate at second base at the end of your life. Do not get stranded at third. Make it all the way home. Trust the Lord until the day you die. Endure to the last breath of your last day. This message is not only for those who are at the end of their race. Originally, it wasn’t written to senior citizens. This is for all who are in the race, but whose spiritual enthusiasm has become sluggish, whose spiritual fire has chilled. Make up your mind to endure to the very end. 
 
                                               © G.  Michael Cocoris, 2/27/2014
 
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