Sailing into trouble. All my growing up years, my mother wanted my sister and me to have to have a well rounded childhood experience. She enrolled us in diving, swim, skiing, television, tennis, art, drama, music, sports, and several other kinds of lessons. When I was in my pre-teens she put me and my sibling into a sailing class. I don’t know what I was expecting. Perhaps my pre-adolescent mind pictured a pirate ship with giant square sails, men with eye patches, peg legs, or hook arms, yelling at me to: “hoist the mainsail,” “swab the deck,” or call me a “limey,” or a “scurvy dog.” Or maybe I imagined one of those racing schooners that I had seen on the black and white TV and people quickly raising and lowering large triangular white sheets and hanging off the side to keep it from capsizing, while waves threatened to knock them into the drink at any minute. My fears were alleviated when we showed up at Ft. Loudon Lake to find some tiny tubs with one sail and one single mast, Sunfish sailboat. The instructor was laid back but got right to work teaching us the terminology of sailing vessels, teaching how to rig the boat, and coaching us on the navigation rules on the Tennessee River. The first week we never even got in the water. As a young man of action, I was reluctant to return, but my mother, who needed some time with us “out of her hair,”insisted that we try it again. This time we actually, one by one, got into the Sunfish with the instructor, and sailed a bit. I did enjoy it. We returned each week of the class and learned to sail solo. Unfortunately, there was only one Sunfish, but the instructor was quick to point out that we had the small tubs with sails we could use, we were all skeptical. One day, my ADHD self could wait no longer for the Sunfish to come back, so I decided to try one of the tiny boats. They are smaller than a bathtub and quite unstable. I quickly found out why no one was using these boats… as soon as I got into the boat it began filling with water, but I kept going at the urging of the instructor, who assumed they were self-bailing like the Sunfish. As I inserted the small daggerboard (used to keep the boat from capsizing) and got some wind in the sail, the boat began to move, but took on water even more quickly. By the time I was a few yards from shore, I and the boat were under water. The instructor apologized for the equipment and dragged the boat back to shore as I swam back in. We all had on lifejackets, so we weren’t in any danger. It wasn’t exactly a shipwreck, but in my imagination… I had to avoid being attacked by sharks… or at least being gummed to death by a suckermouthed carp nestled in the mud at the bottom of what we fondly called “Lake Nasty.” Our beloved body of water had earned the moniker when the water treatment plant had “mistakenly” been dumping raw sewage into the river a few miles upstream for years (a problem now rectified… according to officials). I went home and took a good bath… and only sailed in the reliable, stable, Sunfish for the remaining lessons. (Years later, I enjoyed the faster, funner, reliable Hobie Cats.)
When Paul was talking to his young protege in the faith, Timothy, he warned him to hang on to the One he could trust and live life with a clear conscience, or his faith would be ineffective and headed nowhere. Paul, who himself had been actually shipwrecked three times, one time floating helplessly adrift on the open sea, gave a strong warning about not behaving like those who don't yet belong to Jesus. He says to Timothy, “Cling to your faith in Christ, and keep your conscience clear. For some people have deliberately violated their consciences; as a result, their faith has been shipwrecked.”(1 Timothy 1:19 NLT-SE) Doing what we know to be wrong and doing it anyway, is like getting in a sinking ship. Start with Christ, talk to Him, listen to Him, consult Him and let Immanuel remind you how His people act, and then go do that.
Hang in there people! God is glad to be with us! I’m praying for us all!
