The Adventure Awaits
God handcrafted your Sailboat. He equipped you with everything you need to live this adventure of life. He’s charted out a course for you. He’s given you crew members to share the adventure with.
What does your Sailboat look like? Can you picture it in your mind right now?
Is it a large sailing vessel, prepared to go on a long journey and take lots of people with you.
Or is it a sleek racing boat, built to go fast and hard?
Or is it a simple, but strong boat?
Or maybe it is a little Dinghy?
Whatever the case, you need to know that God made you and He doesn’t make mistakes. He has given us all the tools we need, but many of us are not going anywhere, and we don’t know why.
Maybe we are trying to take too much with us on our Journey.
We have all these Crates that are weighing us down and immobilizing us. We have a Crate called Unbelief that is very heavy keeping our ship at bay. We have another Crate called Fear- we can’t ever risk losing this box. We have another Crate called Sin that is very precious to us. We have a Crate called Unforgiveness that we keep on deck, always visible to us. We have one Crate called Significance, which holds all our money and our possessions and our titles. It’s a very large Crate, and we go by and touch it every day to make sure its intact.
We sit in the Bay looking at the vast ocean, longing for adventure. We know we were made for more than this. We know God is calling us to something greater.
It starts by giving the controls of our Boat over to Him. Are we willing to let God run our Boat?
If so, He’s going to ask us to start throwing our Crates overboard. Are we willing to let go of everything we hold sacred and trust Him on our journey? He won’t make us do it, but until we are willing, He can’t take us where He wants to take us.
Finally, our longing to follow Him is greater than our desire for comfort and we start heaving the heavy crates overboard. Once the deck is clear, our boat is light and ready. And there’s good news. We realized we’ve been equipped with a large puffy sail and there is room to raise the sail.
Now, the wind of His Holy Spirit can fill our sail and start moving us into the sea.
John 14:15-21 New International Version (NIV)
Jesus Promises the Holy Spirit
15 “If you love me, keep my commands. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be[a] in you. 18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.19 Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. 21 Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”
Once we begin letting the Holy Spirit fill our sail and guide us, the adventure really begins. The wind is at our back, the salty air smells fresh and the horizon looks endless. We are excited about our journey. We feel victorious and proud of ourselves for letting go. We throw our arms in the air.
Then, we feel a raindrop. We feel the wind shift. We look up and see the storm clouds converging. The waves begin to get larger and larger. We are in the middle of the ocean and feel very vulnerable. We see the Crate called Fear not far from the boat, and we want to bring it back on-board. What have we done? We think we’ve made a huge mistake!
This reminds me of the story of King Hezekiah. This account can be found in Isaiah 36-37. The Assyrians were wreaking havoc in Judah, capturing every fortified city. Next they set their sights on Jerusalem, where Hezekiah was king. The commander of the Assyrian army approached them and sent word to Hezekiah and the rest of Jerusalem. His voice sounded much like the Accuser’s voice:
- On what are you basing this confidence of yours?! Haven’t you seen what we have done to all the other cities?
- Why don’t you bargain with us and spare your life?
- The Lord is on our side. He sent us to destroy you (remember, the enemy masquerades as an angel of light?)
- Don’t listen to Hezekiah. He cannot deliver you! Do not let Hezekiah persuade you to trust in the Lord for your deliverance!
- I’ve seen the wind guide men to stop by a hospital to pray for healing for someone who is sick.
- I’ve seen the wind guide a man to leave work and go back home to ask his wife for forgiveness for the way he treated her the night before.
- I’ve seen the wind guide men to do random acts of kindness for those in need. One of those men brought a homeless man to The Anchor and the wind guided many other men to help this man get a place to live, a new vehicle and a job.
- I’ve seen the wind guide a man to text someone who was on his heart, not knowing that the man was considering suicide.
- I’ve seen the wind cause a Journey guide to stop a session so the men can gather around a man who just found out his wife was having an affair. They put the Journey materials aside and followed the Spirit to minister to this man.
- I’ve seen the wind cause a man to take a stance against immorality in his company, risking his very livelihood.
- I’ve seen the wind help men surrender their dreams only to find that God would replace them with better ones.
- I’ve seen the wind guide men to uncomfortable places and difficult conversations which turn into forgiveness and reconciliation.
- I’ve seen the wind guide men to find real meaning and purpose in life.
- I’ve seen the wind guide a man who struggled with unforgiveness toward his Dad find healing and become the biggest encourager in Tulsa.
- I’ve seen the wind guide a man who had suffered the loss of two failed restaurants become a high school teacher at Hale High school, one of the roughest schools in Tulsa, and become Teacher of the Year.
- I’ve seen the wind guide a man whose wife was an alcoholic but no one knew it to handle his marriage with grace, dignity and honor, despite things not working out the way he wanted.
- I’ve seen the wind guide a man who loved the Outdoors but also had compassion for those in need to start a Disaster Relief ministry.
- I’ve seen the wind guide a man whose high school senior son just committed suicide to join a Journey group when it was the last thing he wanted to do and found healing, hope and formed a ministry to help others find this same hope.
- I’ve seen the wind guide a young Tulsa police officer who had just endured false accusations and severe trials, to lay it all down and lead Influencers in Tulsa.