A Beautiful Mess: Stations
I’ve got a question for you…ready? Here it comes…it’s a doozy. (Don’t you just love the word “doozy”?) Now back to our question. It’s a big picture question.
Where are you right now?
No, not “where” are you, but where “are” you — in life? What ship are you sailing on? What is your current station in life?
Following Jesus is not necessarily about jumping ship, but in learning to pursue His purposes whereever we find ourselves. This is what the Apostle Paul will address with the Corinthians this weekend in our series: A Beautiful Mess.
June 5th, 2008 at 11:09 am
Good question dear Dean-I’m not sure I totally understand it , but I’ll give it a try. I would say that I am at the “trying to figure it all out station”. Having you challenge me for the past couple of years has truly had an effect on my life. I’m now trying to figure out how following Jesus affects my life as a wife, mother, Jammy, daughter, sister, Auntie, grandaughter and friend. You would think that I would have been working on this many of the years that I have been a Christian but that’s just not the case. I guess you could say that I am finally in the ACTIVE phase of “figuring it all out”! Somehow, I feel that this will be my station in life for the rest of my life. I doubt that I will ever figure it all out.
June 6th, 2008 at 8:39 am
hmmm… good question, dean. i’m definitely with barb at the “figuring it out” station, but your “jumping ship” idea and the sailing ship you chose for this week’s picture got me to thinking … i’ve always believed i’ve been “on the bridge” with Jesus for a very long time, but maybe i’ve imagined the ship as a top-class cruiser with all the very best technical navigation equipment at hand. it’s fairly easy to remain confident in that scenario, even in a foggy calm or a windblown storm, if you trust the captain knows his equipment and is directing you to use it accurately. but of late it seems i’ve been assigned a new vessel – same captain, but now it’s an old, classic sailing ship without any navigation tools at all beyond the captain’s wisdom and skill with the sea and the stars. and the fog sets in, and then the storms hit, one after the other, and i’m still called to stand there on the bridge and faithfully carry out His orders. that takes trust to a whole new level, because my inclination now is to grab and hold tight to anything that doesn’t move and feels stable, but you can’t do that and still obey the captain. long analogy – but that’s how i think and that’s where i am. working hard to trust and obey.