The Finish Line - what really matters.

There are many times in life when we set goal for ourselves, some we complete and some we don't. It is a great feeling to accomplish an objective that you set for yourself, finishing what you set out to do. Today I have reached a goal that, at times I thought that I would never see the finish line, but though much determination I can now say I am a college graduate, 17 years after graduating high school. I realize that at this time of year this is a commonplace accomplishment and that there are hundreds of thousands of college grads out there right now saying the same thing. But my case was far from typical, in that I had a completely different set of obstacles to overcome, for instance how many grads can say that they went to college full time throughout their undergrad career while running a small business to support their wife and four children all while living 30 miles from campus. It kinda makes the usual roommate and laundry complaints I heard from my fellow students seem trivial, but even all of the situational  difficulties that I had to endure seem like nothing compared to something great that I experienced last spring. Last year I had a life changing experience that caused me to seriously consider dropping out of college, you see when I started working for this degree 4 years ago I was not spiritually where I should be and my motives for going to college in the first place were completely wrong. I started with the very common, but worldly goal of getting a degree to make more money. Now don't get me wrong, there is nothing bad about making money and having a good job to support your family. And I still do want a better job to be a better provider for my wife and kids. The difference is that I no longer have the life goal of having a high-paying career that selfishly consumes all of my time and causes me to neglect my family and keeps me away from doing something for God. My whole outlook on life has changed over the last year, and now I realize that serving the Lord is more important than anything else and all that matters on this earth is what you accomplish for Him. We are not going to spend eternity wishing we made more money, had a career, or spent more time at work. All that matters in the grand scheme of things is what are we doing for God, right now. The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 6:2 now is the accepted time, behold now is the day of salvation. All that is going to matter in eternity is not what career you had on earth, not what car you drove or how much money you had. There are only 2 things will that matter, where will you spend eternity in Heaven or hell and if you make it to Heaven, how many people did you take with you. These two objectives are my life goals, they are the career that I do not need a degree for, so although I am very grateful that the Lord has helped me to reach this finish line of receiving a bachelor's degree, my true desire is to make it to Heaven someday and I hope that everyone can cross that finish line with me. So if you are reading this and you do not know Jesus as your personal savior then I urge you to please reconsider the direction of your own life and change what finish line you will end up on one day when you die. Please give your heart to the Lord and you will be amazed at the difference He will make in your life, take it from someone who knows first hand, there is no greater goal than being a Christian.