Fourth Quarter

Like a city breached, without walls, is one who lacks self-control. Proverbs 25:28

Tomorrow begins the fourth quarter of 2005. This year hasn't gone like I had hoped it would. This may be true for many. It seems that by trying to figure out some of my past, I have been bogged down - spiritually, emotionally, physically, and mentally. Maybe I have been going through a midlife crisis. If I want 2006 to be a great year, the next three months are critical.

This morning I came across Proverbs 25:28. I thought of the city of New Orleans. The city did not have strong enough walls to keep the city from being breached. The enemy infiltrated. This may be true physically as well as spiritually. The lack of self control seems to be an underlying problem to many of their woes.

Self-control or self-discipline is something that I need in my life. The next three months are going to be about building the walls. Of course, if the foundation is not solid, the strongest walls in the world will not hold up. One engineer I saw interviewed said that was the problem with the levee system in New Orleans.

When I played football in high school, when the fourth quarter began we would hold up our fingers and say, "Fourth quarter is ours." Games are won and lost in the fourth quarter. Some of the greatest comebacks of all time have happened in the fourth quarter. Right now I am going to claim the fourth quarter. "Fourth quarter is mine."