TOO SOON TO QUIT -- Devotional for September 25, from "Good Seeds"

Now, behold, today I turn eighty-five, but I am still as strong today as when Moses sent me; as my strength was then, so it is today. Now, therefore, give me this land. (Joshua 14:10-12)

The time came, not too long ago, when I turned the big SIX–O. “Hey, once you reach your sixties,” I hear my loved ones, my culture – and worse yet, myself – telling me, “it will soon be time to slow down, shift gears; time to dust off that old fishing pole and rocking chair, time to start getting used to sunsets!” My own body has been telling me this for awhile now – it seems to be falling right in line with that old standby, the second law of thermodynamics. Yes, I’m settling down, down to the ground; I’m breaking down, slowing down, running down – each trophy slowly turning into atrophy! But I stand up to this tendency; I curse this curse, and will fight with everything in me not to give up – not to EVER give up! I think of those very serious words in the movie spoof of Star Trek, GALAXY QUEST: “Never surrender, never give up!” The words they made light of, I take as a heavy -- and heavenly -- mandate! Here’s an excerpt from a poem I wrote the year I turned sixty. It remains my testimony of consecration, to fulfill God’s mission in me until He’s finished with me, here, and puts me back to work, up there! But in the meantime, it’s still too soon to quit…
How old, my friend, is too old to grow?
How far, my brother, is too far to go?
How late, my Jesus, is too late to start
In chasing my dream and in following Your heart?

Remember old Caleb, at age eighty-five,
Still laughing and growing – still so much alive!
Still out fighting giants; for God claiming hills;
Neither tired nor retired, but still finding thrills.

When his friends started yawning, he was still yearning;
When in chairs they were rocking, he was still learning:
His life, an adventure, though way past his prime –
Still grabbing the future one day at a time!

What is this saying to you and to me?
That it’s too soon to quit, and too late to flee!
So just stay on task, moving forward, not back.
Go take that hill – but “don’t take no flak!”

Never surrender – never give up!
It’s always too soon to quit.
Go get your orders from heaven’s headquarters,
And go out and get on with it!