DAD'S RAMBLINGS -- THE SINKING SHIP

DAD'S RAMBLINGS – THE SINKING SHIP

"And when it was day, they did not recognize the land; but they observed a bay with a beach, onto which they planned to run the ship if possible. And they let go the anchors and left them in the sea, meanwhile loosing the rudder ropes; and they hoisted the mainsail to the wind and made for shore. But striking a place where two seas met, they ran the ship aground; and the prow stuck fast and remained immovable, but the stern was being broken up by the violence of the waves." (Acts 27:39-41)

Here they were, at sea at the mercy of a tremendous storm. The lives of the ship's crew and passengers – 276 people in all -- was in danger of being lost. But Jesus appeared to Paul and told him that even though the ship would run aground, all of them would be saved if they obeyed God's word to Paul.

It happened as Jesus had told Paul it would.

Playing the "shoulda-woulda-coulda" game does not help the situation. Paul tried that game. He said, "You should have listened to me" (verse 21), and not sailed from Crete. But this did not help the situation they were in. Trying to correct the problems of the future by mourning over the past does not help. We face life as it really is.

We live in a society where the it seems the ship is going down. Our culture and our nation are being tossed about by harsh winds. And on a personal level when it seems my life is being battered and broken by the violence of the waves, I can trust God. It does not help to play the shoulda-woulda-coulda game because I can't change the past. I can move forward trusting God. He is my Savior, regardless of the storm.

There is safety if we will listen to what God says and do it.

Love, Dad