Happy 365!
Hey everybody! Have you heard what TODAY is? What, you have no idea! It is Friday the 13th… of November 2009? You know… that very special day… for a very special little bud of yours? Ok… no more hints! I’m just going to say it straight out… today is 365 Day for chuckbalsamo.com! 365 consecutive DAILY blogs!
You knew that of course… because I’ve been talking about it ALL WEEK right! I know, you might be getting tired of reading all this blah blah blah about my current overwhelming sense of ACCOMPLISHMENT! But, I promise it’s almost over… and then we can get back to business!
What shall I do to celebrate 365 Day? Sadly, not much time for celebrating at the moment. (frowning, then smiling) Gotta work diligently on my Sunday Destiny Family Center message till 2pm… then off to Richmond to visit my amazing father-in-law. That will be fun… It may even count for celebrating! (smiling more consistently now)
I’m staying the night in Richmond, and then… at 7am tomorrow morning-I will be cheering for Emily (speedy girl) Balsamo as she runs the Richmond Marathon! She’s trained so well and I’m so proud of her! Due to the overly complicated last 7 months of my life, I wasn’t able to train well enough this time (grrrrrrr)… so tomorrow, I’m just a fan in the crowd. (head tilted down)
WAIT A MINUTE… NOT just a FAN in the crowd! Victory and defeat is determined by the quality of a persons CHEERING SECTION, right? Thats RIGHT! I’m going to CHEER and CHEER and CHEER until I can CHEER no more! I’m gonna CHEER so obnoxiously, all the other more dignified fans are going to wonder if I’m an unstable person! This boy aint holdin nothin back! Go speedy girl! Go speedy girl! Go GO GOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Run speedy run! Run speedy run! RUUUUUNNNNNNN! Get the point?
Hey, at least I’ll get to CARB-LOAD all day with my little marathoner! I’m such a good and SUPPORTIVE husband! lol
Finishing
There is something very special about carrying an assignment all the way to its FINISH LINE! Anybody can start a thing… but only a few people finish the things they start! (good quote aye!)
The best biblical illustration of this CONCEPT of FINISHING is seen in the life and ministry of Moses. Remember that guy? After freeing a nation of slaves from the legendary Pharaoh of Egypt… he spent months ALONE in the mountains with God, receiving METICULOUS instructions about what he was to do with the rest of his life. Moses was commanded to build a tabernacle for worship… and he was told exactly WHEN and HOW God wanted him to build it… and Moses started the work and Moses FINISHED the work!
And ON THE EXACT DAY that Moses FINISHED what he started… SOMETHING HAPPENED!
Exodus 40:33-35 Then he (Moses) hung the curtains forming the courtyard around the Tabernacle and the altar. And he set up the curtain at the entrance of the courtyard. So at last Moses FINISHED the work. THEN the cloud covered the Tabernacle, and the GLORY OF THE LORD FILLED the Tabernacle. Moses could no longer enter the Tabernacle because the cloud had settled down over it, and the glory of the Lord filled the Tabernacle.
I realize that today might just be another ordinary day for so many people… and it would be JUST ANOTHER ORDINARY DAY for me… EXCEPT for the fact that today is all ABOUT COMPLETION… its about FINISHING something I started… its about RUNNING STRONG across a marathon FINISH LINE… its about PICKING UP OUR FINISHERS MEDAL!
Who knows what’s going to happen TODAY? Maybe nothing immediately recognizable. This might turn out to be just another SEEMINGLY ordinary day for me. But, I believe that just like MOSES FINISHED THE WORK… and THEN, the glory cloud COVERED the tabernacle, and the glory of the Lord FILLED the tabernacle… I believe that SOMETHING HAPPENS for EVERY PERSON that FINISHES a God ordained assignment!
I want God to look on my work and measure it for CONSISTENCY and HEART… and I want him to say WELL DONE CHUCK BALSAMO! And the only reward I desire is for his GLORY to FILL MY LIFE and MINISTRY… for this blog and my preaching at Destiny Family Center and at other places around the world, and for EVERYTHING I DO to be MARKED with the GLORY OF THE LORD!
As you read my story today… OUR STORY TODAY… be INSPIRED to finish more and more of your own God ordained assignments. Don’t be a quitter! Trust me, there are a million reasons to quit EVERYTHING you and I ever set out to accomplish. Especially the meaningful things! But the glory comes to the one that stays in the race… to the one who trains historically, enters his race with great optimism, overcomes the million temptations to drop out, defies the odds, and finishes STRONG!
Thanks for making this blog site such a great source of inspiration for so many people worldwide! I’m positive, the best is JUST AHEAD!
I hope todays blog 365 is everything you hoped it would be… and so much more! Now dream big, live bold, and keep on making a gigantic difference with your amazing life! Love you all… have a most triumphant day!
Woooohoooo! This is great! Many of you know that my husband, Jeremy, and I are the Associate Pastors of Freedom Outreach in Mt. Jackson, Virginia. We are currently in the process of finishing up the remodeling of the entire church, so that we may open for services! I cannot wait until the day that we can have our first meeting and realize that we have done it! We have finished what we have started!!!! I know that day will be the same for me as today is for you Pastor! I know the feeling of anticipation! I know the feeling of completion as well, and I can't wait to feel that again! God is sooooo good!!!
If this blog does nothing else for you all reading it today, my prayer is this: may it encourage you to diligently work towards your God appointed assignment! I pray everyone will know want it feels like to cross the finish line!!!
Pastor your excitement radiates in your blog and I am blessed to have been able to share it with you today! Bask in the glow of a God appointed accomplishment! You deserve it, for all your hard work and obedience! I pray blessings for you and your family on this amazing day!!!!
That is SO awesome! I would love to be that consistant. I can barely even finish a book. Congratulations! All you're hard work has paid off:) All the days that you may have thought skipping just one day would not make you or break you and you did it anyway:)
Congratulations!! H A P P Y 365 D A Y !!!! (I even remember where i was sitting when I read blog number 1!) It is so exciting to see the hundreds of hits daily and to know that my Pastor is truly making a difference WORLDWIDE! I guess we will never really know, until we get to Heaven, JUST HOW MUCH these faithful posts have meant. Some light and humorous, some profoundly penetrating, but ALL, ENCOURAGINGLY LIFE-CHANGING for MANY!!
I'm hoping that this day is filled with celebrating for you, Pastor, and all is well in Richmond. And tomorrow, Emily will finish her marathon inspired for future endeavors!!
Also, I hope everyone who reads your blog today, can reflect on all their great finishes…even if they have always regared them as small, they are accomplishments!! They are "mile posts down" as we race on to THE finish!!!
Happy Birthday Blog!!
Thank you Pastor for your long hours of dedication to your cause of keeping this blog active and alive and reaching thousands of readers with the Word of God!
My prayer is that all your expectations will be revealed and that God will flood your life with blessings overflowing!!
Please Cheer for us too for Emily tomorrow !!! Go EM!!!
Have a great fun filled weekend. We love you guys.
Today's blog really emphasizes that finishing what you begin is what's important. Many people begin the race but only a few complete it.
I know I posted this on Facebook, but I wanted to put it here too!! Gooo Em go!!!! Wooooohoooo! You rock!!
WOW you guys… thanks for all this ENTHUSIASM! So nice to be surrounded with friends on such a JOYOUS occasion! I'm praying especially for everyone who leaves a comment today! So, thank you… and GOD BLESS YOU ALL!
CONGRADS YOU ARE SOOOOOO AWESOME 365 DAYS YEAH!!!!!!WE ARE TRUELY INSPIRED AND CAN NOT WAIT TILL THE NEXT YEAR REVOLUTIONIZES–CAN I HEAR AN AMEN–AMEN
AMEN-AMEN!!!!!
Hey Pam….AMEN!!!
Happy Birthday Blog! It's been a great year…this blog has many more birhtdays to come…I just know that our Pastor isn't out of inspiring stories and thoughts to keep us all rolling along!
Thanks for the hard work…and inspiration!
YAYYYYYY!! 365 day of blogging!! and i wondered where were i back then, i only read the blog since several months ago and i suddenly REGRETTING and saying to GOD "Its not fair.. i need this blog since last year" *lol
Well i love the phrase "Finish STRONG" and totally AGREE with every word that Ps Chuck is saying. and i just want to encourage each one of us to just FOCUS on the GOAL, KEEP RUNNING; you know what (i talk to myself as well): it doesn't matter HOW LONG you will reach your finish line, as long as you keep RUNNING.
And i just wanted to highlight this: (I LOVE IT LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE and just LOVE IT)
"Don’t be a quitter! Trust me, there are a million reasons to quit EVERYTHING you and I ever set out to accomplish. Especially the meaningful things! But the glory comes to the one that stays in the race… to the one who trains historically, enters his race with great optimism, overcomes the million temptations to drop out, defies the odds, and finishes STRONG!"
I pray for THE BEST YEAR to come for you and your amazing family Ps Chuck ..
really, i want to be there someday
Esslythe… did I actually say that! Wow… I read the quote and thought, "My God that is POWERFUL"… then realized you were quoting from todays blog! Amazing how much better it sounds when someone else is saying it!! And hey Essylthe… you are a GIGANTIC blessing to all of us! Thanks for being here!
Congrats on the 365th blog!!! Just wanted to say that you are a GREAT cheerleader, lol…. no seriously, I can hear you now still cheering me on in life. Even though we don't talk like we used to I can still feel your prayers going up for me and I wanted to thank you for that!
Wow….365 days. Congrats. You're awesome. Way to finish strong. Just think a year from now it will be 2 years!!!!! You can do it. Thanks for your daily prayers and time with God to inspire you to keep on blogging even when things got hairy.
Do good tomorrow Em.
Elaine how exciting to read about your church.
Congratulations! You are a remarkable person! Thank you so much for the enormous amount of time you give trying to reach others & for the Glory of God! I don't comment enough about your blogs & how thankful I am to have you as my Pastor! You touch my heart with every single blog & sermon you give! Thank You!
Good job! Yours is the most read blog for me the last 12 months, more than my own, that's for sure. I haven't seen the lovebug for a long time. I'm really happy with you for your success.
WOW 365 Blogs! Great job Pastor, thanks for your encouraging words that you write for "your tribe" each and everyday,to help keep us focused and inspired! You have touched many lives, by sacifricing your time,talents, and resources in your blogs. GREAT JOB! Thank You Again!
Thanks Pastor. Your such an encourager. Keep writing – it gets better and better.
Gooooo duuuuude! Congrats and thanks! It's awesome having your encouragement as a daily dose. Need it or not, we can "tap in" and get juiced up, inspired, enlightened, educated or led or all of the above or some great combination of any of those. You're a gifted man of God. Thanks for being you. Thanks for being my Pastor. And, most of all, thanks for being my friend. Of the 38 days I spent in the hospital, no one was there for me more than you other than my own wife. My accident was a life-changing event because God was breaking me down in a major way and still is. But God was there. When your Pastor is there and church family led by him are there, you can't concentrate on anything but God's presence. I don't recommend falling off a cliff but I can say that I have been so blessed beyond measure because of it. Thank you for being there thru that, thru the times before and since then and being there for all of us now thru this BLOG! Love you man!
Mister Awesome Pastor! This is so great! There has been so much that we have gone through, personally and as a church, in this past year. You have become such an inspiration of motivation through this! It's just so awesome that you are still going strong after so long. This is HUGE! Congrats. You rockkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk!
I just finally got a chance to read through all TWENTY of these comments… and I must say that you guys ALMOST caused me to forget the PAIN in my body from running that Richmond race yesterday! At least for a few minutes!
Really… when I read your comments, I realize HOW BLESSED I am to have so many GREAT people in my life! It's like God is skimming off the very best people in all the earth… and he is making them MY FRIENDS and partners!
Thank you all the very kind comments… and for all the love you give out every day of your lives. You are the reason I love to blog and lead! I pray blessings on you all… hope you feel the difference!
Jon thanks for sharing your experience. God is present more than we realize. Thanks for being transparent. Praying for you.