Remember the Goal

Image by skeeze from Pixabay

“They say you deliberately had the girls run slow in the race,” the principal at the private Christian high school said to the new track coach, Courtney, in the movie Remember the Goal. “Now why would you do that?”

“Because that’s the only way they’re going to get faster,” Courtney said.  

Courtney’s goal is to win the state meet. Her team and their parents struggle to understand her training philosophy, but over time, as the girls build their endurance, they begin to see the wisdom of planning with an end goal in mind — not to win weekly meets, necessarily, but to win state at the end of the season.

A number of you reached out to me last week after I wrote about finishing well — living with the end of your life in mind. After I wrote that, "Remember the Goal" came to mind, and it’s such a great example of what I was talking about that I thought I’d share it with you this week. 

If you’re interested in seeing the movie, it’s available on Amazon Prime Video. Or you can buy a copy from the official website. I think I saw it on the UP Network, so you can check for it there, as well. 

Courtney inspired her girls using 1 Corinthians 10:31: “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”

As her girls considered what this verse meant for the team, they began to realize they needed to train differently than other teams. 

Training for anything is about living differently in the here and now with a bigger goal in mind. For the Christian, it’s to finish well, knowing we poured ourselves out for the sake of the gospel. We invested spiritually in people. We loved them, nudging them along on their spiritual journey. And we made the sacrifices that needed to be made to do our part in kingdom work. 

I’m in a season in which I’m taking spiritual inventory. Am I where I need to be spiritually? Am I doing the work God has assigned to me? Am I loving people well? I fall short in all three areas, but by taking inventory, I’m prayerfully reorienting my days because I want to finish well.  

It's probably a good practice for all of us to undertake periodically.  

If you’re interested in reading my devotional e-book Finishing Well: Living with the End in Mind, you can download a copy from the retail site of your choice for $0.99.