Setting Sail

November 16, 2009

Through sermons, dreams, and a retreat, God has been speaking to me about setting sail during this past week. I love when God speaks to me on the same theme from more than one source. Yesterday's sermon was a look at Abraham and God's command to take his son Issac and sacrifice him on the altar. Abraham obeyed the Lord and was on the verge of killing his son when an angel of the Lord stopped him. The Lord had been testing his willingness to obey and to risk losing his only son, the very promise of God. Abraham's faith stood the test, but the challenge for me was whether I am willing to sacrifice the "Issacs" in my life -- those things which I hold on to and sometimes hold as dearer than Jesus. Can I trust God's call to go to a mountain and place on the altar my dearest and my best?

This sermon and then the teachings regarding boats and sailing have all pointed towards the idea of risk. What risk am I willing to take in following Christ? Sometimes I just want to sit in the boat on dry land instead of risking the open sea and the storms that may come up there. And yet a boat is not meant for the land nor even for sitting at the dock forever. It is designed to sail on the waters and go into unchartered territory. I sense that God is calling me to move out on the water with Him. A neat analogy that I heard the other week at a retreat was how Jesus is like the anchor of our boat. The anchor goes with us wherever we go but we need to keep a firm grip on it. As long as the anchor is with us, we can set up home almost anywhere since the anchor will keep us grounded. As I have been pondering various options for my next step in life, this idea has been comforting because I know that wherever I end up, the Lord will be with me and I can be at home there.

I also keep coming back to an idea that comes out of C. S. Lewis's book, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. The oldest girl Susan says to the Beavers regarding Aslan, "But is he safe?" to which they reply, "Of course he is not safe; he is Aslan, but he is good." (Hopefully I have that quoted correctly). Those words have been in my mind because all too often my first question when considering a new idea or option is, "Is it safe?" It is not, "Is God in it?" I want to know that I will be safe. But the Lord does not promise that we will be safe from pain and suffering nor even death. Those are all a part of life. As I follow His call for my life, I will encounter danger but I remain safe because I am in His loving arms and as Romans 8:35-39 point out, nothing can separate us from the love of Christ. And so my prayer is that I will not look so much at the question of safety and comfort but instead ask where God is at work and where He wants me to be. I want to be in the adventure of following Him into the unknown because I know that He is bigger than the wind and the waves and that He is right there with me.