Drifting

Have you ever had that certain sinking feeling deep in your insides as you realized you just did something really stupid and there was nothing you could do now but watch it unfold right before your eyes. It is a really sick feeling.

I mentioned in my first blog my addictive personality. I don't do anything casually. For example, I love boats. But it is a disease for me and not just a casual affair. So instead own owning a boat or two, I've owned at last count a total of 14 boats. All but one have been Sea Ray's and my last one was over 45' long and would comfortably sleep 6. It had two 454 cubic inch engines and weighed in at over 22,000 pounds. When cruising Lake Michigan, as we often did, it got one-half mile to the gallon at cruise speed. It held 300 gallons of fuel and was a gas pumps best friend.

But I love boats! Probably more than I should. Once coming in off the lake one afternoon, the weather was getting bad. The wind picked up and the current in the river where our dock was was swift and swirling. The thing about a boat that size is you have to keep it under power because once at the mercy of the wind and current it is impossible to control. As a good captain you pride yourself on nice smooth dockings and it comes rather easy with time and practice.

One form of entertainment for me around the docks was to watch people bring in boats in challenging winds and currents. The "newbies" put many scratches and dents on brand new boats due to lack of experience. Sometimes watching someone put a boat in a slip sideways was very entertaining! But not when it was MY boat.

As I was turning the boat into the slip I accidently took it out of gear for a second and the wind and current spun the boat entirely in the wrong direction. On my left was a brand new boat worth about 600,000 dollars. On my left was another brand new boat worth about 850,000 thousand dollars! My options were few. Let the boat drift into one of these brand new boats or ram it into the slip knowing I would probably ram the pier and do damage to my own boat. Well I chose the later. Putting both engines into forward gear I rammed the gas and aimed the boat to the back of the dock. Sure enough, I watched in horror, helpless, as the bow of the boat headed to the piling with the bow pulpit heading for a huge crash. Your anchor is mounted up there and in a boat that size it is no small thing.

The anchor caught the piling and the loudest bang I have ever heard from a docking boat came booming from the front of my boat. My stomach was sinking, my eyes were almost in tears and my heart was pounding like a bass drum on July 4th. I hurriedly got control of the boat after bouncing it off the pier and managed to get it into the slip. I couldn't hardly bare to make the walk up to the bow to see what damage had been done. But after securing the boat and heading up front, I was amazed. The only damage was a bent anchor and a bent anchor bracket! I was so fortunate. I uttered an little prayer of thanksgiving under my breath and thought to myself, "what a great captain I am."

Why is it we allow ourselves to drift along until something happens out of our control and then we helplessly watch as the consequences unfold before our eyes and our stomach sinks in that awful feeling of despair. I realize that in so many important things in my life I have been passive, complacent, and even careless at times. I have been "shipwrecked" simply because I didn't give due diligence to the important things, the small things that mean so much to our life before God.

The thought that birthed this whole blog came as I realized today that this month I will turn 53 years old. Over a half century old, more than one half my life behind me and still I feel there is so much I have yet to do. I want to preach 2,000 more messages, lead 20,000 more people to Christ, sing 60,000 more songs of praise and worship to our God, and above all else I want to sit in the congregation when my daughter, Cassandra, sings one more song for Jesus and then my son, Dan, steps up and ministers the Word of God in power and demonstration of the Spirit. When all that is done I feel I can go home then.

But until then I have to shake off any tendecy to drift. I must live with purpose and become all that the Father has destined for me to become. I am done with that "sinking" feeling and I challenge you to come up a little higher with me. Life is not a "lazy river" that just casually gets you to your destination. But it is a more like the Colorado river and your going UPSTREAM. But you can do it! You can make it! Keep your heart with all dilligence for out of it are the issues of life.

In closing I want to leave you with the words of E.M. Bounds:

“We are constantly in a stretch, if not on a strain, to devise new methods, new plans, new organizations to advance the church and secure enlargement and efficiency for the gospel. The trend of the day has a tendency to lose sight of the man or sink the man in the plan or organization. God’s plan is to make much of the man, far more than anything else. Men are God’s method. The church keeps looking for better methods; God keeps looking for better men.”

God bless! He's looking for YOU!


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