Finishing strong in life has been an obsession of mine for the longest time. I first heard about the book Finishing Strong by Steve Farrar during a sermon by the then Pastor (now Bishop) of Nairobi Chapel, Oscar Muriu, while in university in the early 2000s. When I read the book for myself circa 2015, I was shocked by the examples of people who started well but finished so dismally.
Solomon, a case in point. How could one who was so wise, evident from his writings and the account of his early years, fail so badly in the latter days of his life? The guidelines from the Scriptures did not seem to help at all. For instance, the Law explicitly forbade kings from amassing wealth, horses, and marrying foreign wives; but Solomon went ahead and did all that, leading him far away from God (Deuteronomy 17:16-20; 1 Kings 11:1-13).
The tendency to stray from God’s instructions has been repeated in many lives of men. Now in my mid-life, I am acutely aware of the pitfalls and I often see myself treading on the edges of the cliff as it were.
Obsessed with this theme and desiring to finish strong, I have attempted to study the lives of those who have finished strong and those who have failed, both in the Scriptures and in my time. This is a lifelong endeavour whose results are worth passing down to the next generation at every opportunity.
Steve Farrar refers to finishing strong in the faith, but I include fulfilling one’s promise and purpose as well. For you to finish strong, you need to start well. This requires you to know your life’s purpose so that you can have the necessary tunnel vision to achieve and fulfill it.
Back in the 90s, a radio interview introduced me to Prof. Arthur Obel’s life story, capturing my fascination. Prof. Obel identified the first cases of HIV/AIDS in Kenya and treated a number of the early patients. He also developed Kemron and Pearl Omega, which were touted as cures for HIV/AIDS but later found to be ineffective. With a Ph.D. in Therapeutics, he had worked as a Chief Research Officer at Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) and was a Chief Scientist in the Office of the President between 1995 and 1999.
Early in his life as a boy in the village, he was asked what he wanted to become in the future. In a moment of inspiration, he expressed his desire to become a doctor when he grows up. This was quite aspirational especially for a village kid who wasn’t that exposed to the world. His story is worth reading, considering how far that dream took him, his faults and failures notwithstanding.
I relate his story to that of my wife, Anastasia, as a young and gifted high school girl who didn’t have much life experience either. When she too was asked what she wanted to become in the future, she said a ‘computer expert’. This from someone who had never seen or touched a computer at the time. She went on to study Computer Science in her home country and abroad and has become an accomplished IT professional. I covet such clarity of vision for one’s life’s work and purpose. Or is it inspiration?
There are many stories of people who were good in school, be it in academics or sports, but never lived up to the promise of their intelligence and gifting. It need not be so. For those of us who struggle with ascertaining life’s purpose and career, I believe the Bible has answers. Indeed, how well one starts determines, to a large extent, how well they finish, and that depends on how clear their vision is.
Yet, it is not the only thing that matters (remember Solomon). For one to begin well, God has to be involved in it. For Prof. Obel and Anastasia, they began with a moment of inspiration. This is not common to many. For most of us, we need God to tell us our life’s purpose.
As the Architect of our lives, God has a plan for us and He doesn’t keep it to Himself. This plan is in addition to the eternal plan for our salvation, which is documented in the Scriptures and is so mind blowing in how meticulously He has orchestrated it. I believe in the same way that He has a plan for eternity, He also has a plan for our life’s purpose and work on earth (Jeremiah 29:11). This is because our lives are valuable to Him; more than we can comprehend (Matthew 10:29-31).
There are various ways in which He communicates His plan. One of them is through dreams. An example from the Scriptures is Joseph (Genesis Chapters 37, 39-45). Joseph receives a couple of dreams that he cannot decipher and in his teenage naiveté, he shares them with his family. It is evident from the dreams that his family will one day bow to him as people did towards kings. This elicits a negative response from all his siblings and even from his parents. Maybe this should serve as a warning to us about who we share our dreams with, when we share them and how. Joseph’s brothers become hateful of him and look for a plan to get rid of him. They eventually sell him into slavery and lie to their father, Jacob, that he was mauled by a wild animal as he was going to meet them when they were on herding duty.
Joseph then lives an extraordinary life as an excellent slave, prisoner, eventually emerging as the second-in-command in Egypt, which was a super power at the time. A famine in the world leads his family to look for food in Egypt and they end up bowing to him; just as he had seen in his early dreams. Before getting to be second-in-command in Egypt, I have often wondered what kept him hardworking and faithful through the years. Was it those early dreams? Did he ponder on them regularly?
Based on how well he interprets his prison mates’ and Pharaoh’s dreams (Genesis 40 & 41), I believe he gained some insight through the years and must have known what his dreams meant and looked forward to them coming to pass. This likely inspired a level of excellence in whatever he did and kept him going through the hard times. Could it be that this was the purpose of the dreams?
God can and will use dreams to safeguard the role of a patriarch, who is destined to save a host nation, a family and a future nation. He wants us to have impactful lives, for our family, nation and future generations. So important is this to Him that He will not just let circumstances play out. He protects His purpose. Wouldn’t knowing that you will be a President 10 or 20 years from now change how you do things, how you spend your time and how you relate with people?
The story of Joseph’s dreams reminds me of a young man from my village who was among the first three to go to university. He had such a perilous life from poverty, to mental illness, to surviving a house fire, and still made it to university. At some point in his life, he had a dream that he was in the State House with the then President of Kenya, Daniel Moi.
I remember being motivated by that story when he told it as we sat one evening, as we usually did, in the shopping centre of Mariwenyi village, my home village. Even in my marijuana haze, I was enthralled and really looked forward to that dream coming to pass. Sadly, he ended his life a couple of years after that when he found out that he was HIV positive.
Was the dream meant to inspire excellence in him? Was it intended to encourage him to weather further adversities in his life? Was it something that he was to look forward to in spite of his HIV status? Was it supposed to inspire virtue that would have protected him from contracting HIV? I have always wondered.
A short time after that I received a dream of my own, just before I joined university. I have not gained enough insight to interpret it but it always brings me assurance when I recall it. I went through a perilous time in the first year of university, and as I started my postgraduate studies. God has been faithful through those times. I still look forward to seeing that dream come to pass.
What has God put in your heart that you truly desire to achieve in your life? Is there a dream that baffles you to this day and yet brings so much joy to your heart? God puts a dream in our hearts or reveals one to us when we are young. And what better time than that?
Another way through which God reveals His plan for our lives is by speaking directly to us. There are a number of such cases in the Scriptures. In Genesis 12:1-3 (NIV), the LORD says to Abram, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation and will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”
That was such a big move for a 75 year-old man with his family and all his possessions (though at 75 he was still young as it were, for he had 100 more years to live). Yet he obeyed. At that age, Abraham, named Abram at the time, was well established and rooted in a polytheist society, with a wife, possessions, and a nephew, Lot. It took God speaking to him directly to call him to a monotheistic faith in the living God. Maybe other ways wouldn’t have cut it.
Similarly, nothing was going to derail Saul from his mission to apprehend Christians but Christ Himself. He had to appear and speak to him directly on the road to Damascus, changing the course of his life forever. Saul went on to live an incredibly impactful life as Paul, an apostle to the Gentiles (Acts 9).
Another example of God speaking directly is the call of Jeremiah in Jeremiah 1. He is called to be a prophet when he is just a child, and God reassures him: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born, I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” (Jeremiah 1:5 NIV) God calls Jeremiah and explicitly lays out his life’s plan and work for him.
Samuel also heard God speak directly to him when He called him as a young boy at Shiloh. He had been dedicated by his mother Hannah to serve in the Tabernacle under Eli, the high priest (1 Samuel 3).
You need to walk closely with God for Him to speak directly to you. Abram was open to the leading of God; Samuel and Jeremiah worked under a priest in service to God; Saul was zealous about his faith in Jehovah even though he was misguided and unaware of the Way that had been revealed. Are you walking closely with God? If not, what is hindering you?
In my early days as a young Christian and a first-year student in university, I once heard, “Faithful”. God went on to assure me that He would take care of me through university and provide to the highest level I desired. This was quite important for me at the time because I easily could have dropped out of university due to the hardships I went through in that first year. I would go for days without proper meals, only surviving on drinking chocolate and a piece of Mandazi.
After that first year, I lived a comfortable life courtesy of the higher education loan I received from the government. This enabled me to concentrate on my studies and do well. I have seen God’s faithfulness through the years and in my education journey up to doctoral level.
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