The Gift of Ending Well - Stephen

 So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: "Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel," which is translated, "God with us."

[Matthew 1:22-23]

 

The recollection of the Christmas story brings us a lot of thoughts, doesn’t it? Shepherds, wise men, swaddling clothes, a manger, sheep, and shooting one’s eye out with a BB gun.  In all seriousness, we think of a baby’s birth most importantly. And not just any baby but the very Son of God. It’s a wonderful story with an even greater meaning for those who believe in its truth. 

 

Yet, when we read that story in Luke 2 or those verses from Matthew 1 above, we can’t help but correlate this Baby’s birth with a beginning of sorts. We do this with all births. We even have descriptive sayings in our modern society referring to a baby being born as “brand-spankin’ new” or declaring to the parents, “Congratulations on the new arrival.” 

 

But what if I told you that Christ’s birth had as much to do with completion as it did with beginning? Don’t believe me? Then take a look at a very specific word Matthew used in verse 22. It’s a word he would use several times in reference to certain details of Christ’s arrival all throughout chapter 2 as well. That word is, “fulfilled.”  

 

“Fulfilled” means to render full or to complete. So why was this word used in describing the birth and new arrival of God’s Son? Because His birth was not only a beginning but a completion.

 

You see the Bible from beginning to end is very much about tying up loose ends. On day 7 of Creation, “God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good” (Gen. 1:31). His creation was complete, and the task once begun was now finished. 

 

At the Bible’s conclusion, Jesus reveals in Revelation 22:13--"I am the Alpha and the Omega, [the] Beginning and [the] End, the First and the Last." What He began, He will complete. What was promised will be fulfilled. What was in the beginning will surely end and end well. 

 

Christ’s birth on that first Christmas completed a promise from the Old Testament (Isaiah 7:14) quoted there in Matthew. It was an ending in itself. Yet, had Christ only been born, the fulfillment would have only been partial, and the promises left mostly incomplete. Which is why when He was dying upon that rugged tree thirty-three-and-a-half years later, He cried with His last words, “It is finished (Jn. 19:30).” A reminder that what began can now properly and fully be considered done, loose ends tied, very much complete. 

 

How often do we think about our ending and ending well like this? Completing what we have begun. Fulfilling the reasons and purposes behind our birth upon this Earth. 

 

Christ is the ultimate example of this obviously but even the Apostle Paul kept the finish line in mind when he said, “For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith (2 Tim. 4:6-7).”

 

There is something to be said about beginning something with the intention of completing it well. Christ knew this. Apparently, Paul understood this also. And we who follow in their footsteps of faith would do well in desiring the same. 

 

As our blog comes to a close, I don’t know that we even knew what we were doing when we began this three-and-a-half years ago. I wish we could say we followed the advice I am giving now, but, honestly, apart from God’s grace in any of the effort, we did not. We didn’t consider when it might end much less how.

 

But somewhere deep down, we all knew one thing: we did not want the phrase “beating a dead horse” to be forever tied to our blog. And, with this, we knew there would be an ending eventually. I pray we ended well. 

 

In a modern society fascinated by deconstructed faith stories, I am glad that Ben, Ron, and I can all say with the Apostle Paul that we have kept the faith through the duration of this blog’s writing. And I truly believe that’s the key to unwrapping the gift of ending well—by keeping the faith. 

 

“‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’”

[Matthew 25:21]

 

Imagine yourself at any and every moment leaving this life prepared and ready to enter the next. If you do this, you too can be unafraid of these two words that most of our world never consider until it is too late. And because they’re never considered, fulfilling them well is not even an option. Therefore, let this final Middlings post be your reminder to consider these words…

 

The End. 

 

All in all, we trust that our posts have been a small help to you along the journey of ending well as we all seek to keep the faith. 

 

We thank you for reading one last time. 

 

And from all The Middlings—Farewell until our final End. 

 

The End is Near - Ron

Five Iron Frenzy (FIF) was one of my favorite bands as a teenager. Their music is mostly nostalgic now, and my wife hates Ska music, so they rarely appear in my Spotify playlist. In 2003, the band self-released an album entitled: The End is Near. At the end of that year, they performed a final concert in Denver (their hometown). This concert was recorded and released as a double album called: The End is Near Here. This album included all songs from The End is Near, and the live concert from Denver.

Ska Mania ‘98 is the first concert I ever attended. The Orange County Supertones, The Insyderz, and Five Iron Frenzy were there. Reese Roper and his bandmates in FIF were dressed as Star Trek characters and I was hooked on Ska music. But all things end. 

Being invited to write for The Middlings was unexpected. I knew both Ben and Stephen when we were at Trinity, but we were different majors and at different stages of our college careers. I got married between my Junior and Senior years and moved off campus. We were friends on Facebook and, looking back, I see that we would interact randomly from time to time over the years. But I did not know that there were people intently reading the things I wrote on social media. I didn’t consider that it mattered. In fact, I get extremely low interaction with most things I put on Facebook. I’ve been in Facebook jail a few times (don’t know why) so maybe my account is throttled. 

I had read a few of the blogs posted by The Middlings before Stephen contacted me about writing. What I enjoyed was finding two people who truly believed that not everything had to be dichotomized. It didn’t have to be “If you vote for Trump you love Jesus, but if you don’t, you are bringing about the downfall of America” (circa 2016 and coming again in 2024). There’s nuance. There are options. There’s room for personal convictions. And it isn’t that I never take a stand. It is just that sometimes the middle of the road is the best place to be standing.

For example, I’ve always felt there was a more biblical place to be than “God hates fags” or “Love is love.” There is a biblical ethic that allows us to treat people with compassion - if not understanding - while refusing to compromise. There has to be. But increasingly, all issues are polarized. The extremes are voiced the loudest. Those refusing to bend the knee are often labeled traitors to the cause. From both sides.

The top of our blog states: “In a world where compromise is the word no one dares to say. In a country where every belief is instinctively labeled left or right. And in communities where every person must pick a side even if they once claimed friendships with those on both. This is where you will find those scripting the entries of this page. We welcome you to MIDDLINGS.”

I’d like to think we’ve done that. In my first year of writing, we attempted to reclaim a biblical understanding of words and concepts. In the second year of my writing, the blog tackled the task of bringing the Ten Commandments into the modern world. If you were with us even then, you may remember that I caught quite a bit of flack for declaring The Chosen to be a violation of the second commandment. This even from my co-bloggers.

Which, by the way, seems weird to say (co-bloggers). I’ve always had nebulous feelings about my place in The Middlings. Stephen had the idea, and he and Ben had been steadily building a following well before I came along. Not that I never felt like I fit, but it wasn’t mine. Not my idea and not my “baby,” as it were. This is why, when talk began about shutting things down in December, I believe my comment was, “Listen, this is yall’s B-B-Q.” This is also why the last post you will read from The Middlings will be written by Stephen. Rightfully so. 

As I said, being asked to write for The Middlings was unexpected. I did not know how impactful it would be. I did not know how much I would need it. I did not know that God would use the blog in so many profound ways in my own life. When I was at my lowest point in recent years, and I mean low, low, low (read about it here), Stephen invited a guest to record a video with us. A few months later, I reached out to that guest about significant things, and I don’t know that I can overstate how essential that contact was to my personal well-being, marriage, and family. The Middlings did that. Or, rather, God did. Because while writing for The Middlings was unexpected for me, it was part of God’s plan for my life.

As this season comes to a close, I am certain that God’s plan for my life will continue to be lived out. It will just look different. For a while, at least.

In 2013, I was looking through Spotify and was surprised to find an album called Engine of a Million Plots. What was so surprising about this, is it was a new Five Iron Frenzy album. I had never heard of it. I didn’t know that the band had come back together. All the happy feelings! I was a teen again! But they hadn’t. Not really. Nothing else from Five Iron until 2021, when they released Until This Shakes Apart.

But they weren’t the same Five Iron that I grew up with. They were angry. It was Covid. They cussed in several of their songs. Something changed. Something happened. To quote Scott Stapp and the band Creed, “time, you’re no friend of mine.”

But all things end. And although the end is near for The Middlings, the end is here for my time of writing. And who knows? You may stumble upon a Middlings post in a few years that you never saw before. And you might think the band has come back together. And maybe we will. But this I know with 100% certainty: the Lord keeps His own.

The One that began a good work in Stephen, and in Ben, and in me, will be faithful to complete it. If, in some future endeavor, the Lord brings us back together, it will be for our good and His glory. As all things ultimately are.

If I could leave you with a thought: Believer, He loves you, He loves you, He loves you. Never stop coming home.

Stephen and Ben, I love you both. If nothing else, your blog was for me. Our blog.

Deep breath. All things end.

Perspective - Ben Hyrne

Perspective is a rare thing in life. Too often, we’re so focused on ourselves, on what we think, that we miss something. Though our eyes are wide open, we cannot hope to see all that there is to see, that is, unless you have someone else looking with you. Even then, there is no guarantee. But, arguably, you’ll miss less and see more than if you were trying to look all alone. 

Since July 2020, the Middlings have put out, including this one, 155 blogs. That’s 155 times that someone put their thoughts on paper. That’s 155 times someone tried to share a little bit of themselves with others. That’s 155 times someone sacrificed their off-time to see, understand, and explain something.

For 155 times, I’ve had the privilege of seeing the world through the eyes of my friends, and they, in turn, were able to see it through mine. In other words, the Middlings allowed me to share my perspective but it also gave me some much-needed perspective. Thus, in this way, every post changed me. They changed how I looked at the world. In 155 posts, I saw more of the world than if I had been trying to look at it all by myself. 

So, as this is my last post, it is only appropriate to thank my fellow writers.

I liked seeing the world through your eyes.  

Thanks for the perspective.

Ben