If that's the way an earthly father responds to his son who is determined to finish the race no matter what the price, how much more does God, our heavenly Father, run to the side of his son or daughter who says, "I'm finishing. I don't care how much it hurts. I don't care if I'm hanging on a cross. I'm finishing."

God says as much in Isaiah 46:3-4: "Listen to me. You whom I have upheld since you were conceived and have carried since your birth even to your old age and gray hairs, I am he. I am he who will sustain you. I have made you, and I will carry you."

That's God talking. As he carries you, as you wrap your arm around him, God whispers in your ear: "Stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain." (1 Corinthians 15).

And he embraces you, squeezes you a little tighter, and he whispers again, saying, "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up." He whispers again, as he does in Psalms, "Wait for the Lord. Be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord."

My prayer for you is that one day, like the apostle Paul, you will be able to say those words, "I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith."