Recently I was thrown into a challenge I really feared, but when it was over, I realized that it was God’s blessing to help me grow up. The challenge was to accept huge risk and trust that God would enable me to overcome it. Even more, the challenge was to accept the risk and trust that whatever the outcome, it would be God’s blessing and gift.

The problem was that our sailboat’s diesel engine, the power source that get us in and out of harbors or past tricky hazards, quit working when we were in a location where there was not a diesel mechanic to be found. We were hundreds of miles from help. Our sailboat was well designed for ocean passages, but we felt unready for this kind of a passage. We had never sailed anywhere without an engine to fall back on. To set out with sails only on a journey that would take days and cover hundreds of miles was a little scary.

We took the big risk, trusting that God would not abandon us. As we plotted our course and watched the weather, we prayed for wisdom and guidance. We had to trust that God’s gift of wisdom would enable us to know the right day to set out. Otherwise we might have continued to wait indefinitely for some specific sign that it was the right time to go.

The day came. We prayed Psalm 62 together, committing ourselves to use every gift and talent God had provided, trusting he would carry us through the challenges that exceeded our abilities. We raised the sail and headed out. We sailed through wild winds and strange currents. We sailed in the moonlight and the midday sun. We changed sails in the dark of night and in torrential downpours. Before things got better they got worse, as additional systems aboard picked this time to fail. We faced and solved problems we had never faced before, and at all times, we counted on God’s promise to be with us wherever we were. We grew in faith, and we grew in skill. This big risky situation became a rich blessing. Six days later, just before sunrise, we tied up at a dock in a boat service facility with a diesel mechanic.

Some people might suggest that we should have prayed for God to provide a diesel mechanic where we were. I have no doubt that God could have done exactly that, but we did not feel led to pray that way. We asked God for wisdom, and our best understanding of his response to that prayer was to sail the boat to some place where there already was a mechanic. We had to stretch ourselves beyond our experience. We had to take beginner skills and grow them into master skills. We trusted God to guide us all the way. We did not sit back and wait for God either to deliver a mechanic to us or to teleport us to a mechanic.

Some people might say that we ought to be able to take the risk of a sailing challenge on our own without bothering God. Save him for the diagnosis of cancer or the death of a child. The Bible teaches us that God will go with us through any challenge. He calls each person to unique challenges, because he has given each person unique gifts. God wants us to mature and develop the gifts with which he endowed us at creation. In fact, my experience leads me to believe that just as parents lead their children to new challenges in order to help them grow up, the Holy Spirit calls us into risky situations that help us mature in our faith.

God is never really done with us, either. At the age of eighty Moses was called by God to do a terrifying job. Moses tried every way possible to avoid doing it, because he saw how risky it was. God overruled all his objections, and said, “I will be with you.”

After the crucifixion of Jesus, his followers met in locked rooms, fearing that they, too, would be arrested and executed. Yet, on the day Jesus ascended into heaven, he told them to get out and tell the good news to everyone. Knowing their fears, and knowing how well justified the fears were, he told them to take that risk anyway, and he promised, “I will be with you.”

Moses took the risk. The disciples took the risk. My husband and I took the risk. Each of us discovered that when our resources had run out, when we could not think of anything more to do about the problem, God was still there. He carried us through. He didn’t speak a magic word and take us out of our troubles. Rather, he walked with us through the challenges. He nudged. He tipped the balance. He showed us a new idea. He inspired a new question. He comforted us in our fears.

We aren’t all called to lead half a million people across a sea. Some of us are called to explore creation and discover God’s handiwork in faraway places. Some of us draw. Some of us sing. Some of us repair diesel engines or build computers. Each of us is unique, and each of us has potential we will never discover if we sit on our hands and wait for God to prevent all the risks. The people who jump out of helicopters to snowboard down mountains know that reaching your limit and discovering that it isn’t a limit at all is a high that is better than drugs. We don’t have to be snowboarders to experience that rush. We simply need to be faithful followers of our Lord, ready to accept the risks we encounter, trusting that he always leads us for our blessing. It is a risk well worth taking.

The gospel of Matthew opens with the story of Joseph’s dream in which an angel reassures him about Mary’s pregnancy, telling him that it is the fulfillment of God’s promise of the Messiah, whose name, “Emmanuel” means “God is with us.” The gospel continues with the story of Jesus’ life and work. The last words of Jesus in this gospel are, “I am with you always, to the end of the age.” [Matthew 28:20] At the time when Matthew wrote, late in the first century, people who had seen Jesus in the flesh were dying off. The growing community of faith needed to be reminded that the indwelling Holy Spirit was the evidence that God truly was present with them and in them.

All these thousands of years later, we still need that reminder. When circumstances conspire to make us feel afraid and helpless, Satan tempts us to think that God has abandoned us. He makes us ask, “If God loves you, why did this terrible thing happen?” We need reassurance that the Holy Spirit is truly present and that in the person of the Holy Spirit, God never abandons us.

My husband and I recently had an experience that brought home the truth that God is always with us, even when we are not paying attention. It is important for us to remember that God’s presence with us does not negate the operation of the laws of physics or meteorology. God has promised that as long as the laws of nature work the way they are supposed to, his love is sure. We want those laws to work. However, when we become captive to them and unable to help ourselves, then it is very good to know that God is with us and that he will work for our good in amazing and wonderful ways. Above all that, whether or not the outcome is just what we hoped for, he is present with us to give us peace with the situation as it develops for good or ill.

We cruised southward one morning toward a destination about a day’s sail from our departure point. As will happen to sailors, however, along the way, we spied a little cove on the chart that looked attractive. We said to ourselves that we could go to our planned destination the next day as we turned aside to our new adventure. We studied the charts, and we studied the notes in guide books. I stood on the bow to spot hazards, and Larry was at the helm to steer to our anchorage.

As will happen sometimes, we became disoriented in the unfamiliar surroundings. Then, caught in a current and uncertain of the correct course, we ran aground. As we tried to steer off the reef, the engine stopped and refused to restart.

In the US, such a situation is annoying, but not the end of the world. Boaters unable to free themselves simply call for a tow, sigh at the cost if they don’t have insurance, and move on. In the Bahamas, the situation is much different. There is no tow service. The Bahamian rescue service is truly focused on rescue in life-and-death situations. A simple mistake that puts a boat aground is the boater’s problem. Boaters are responsible for themselves, and they are well-advised to stay out of trouble if they don’t know how to deal with it. “Knowing” that is the result of reading how to deal with the problem is not, however, the same thing as “knowing” as a result of having done it. We had read the solution, but we had never performed the solution.

On the off chance that there might be someone around who operated a tow service anyway, we made a radio call. No result. Hoping that the Bahamian rescue service could put us in touch with someone who could tow us off, we called them. They could not hear us, although later a marina manager served as a relay between us and them. Still, that communication confirmed their commitment to embark on a rescue only if lives were in danger. Our boat was not taking on water, and nobody was even injured, let alone in a life-threatening crisis. We were on our own.

Every day as we sail or motor in our adventures, I pray that we will have wisdom to use our skills and experience in whatever circumstances come our way. I always pray that we will be safe. This day was no exception, but sitting aboard our grounded vessel, not knowing how we would ever get free without an engine, I prayed that we would see a solution. We knew that the recommended course of action involved deploying an anchor in deeper water and using it to pull ourselves off the rocks, but it was going to take time to do that job, because our dinghy was deflated and wrapped up on deck. We could not possibly throw the anchor far enough to help, and we could not inflate the dinghy, deploy it in the water, attach the outboard and get the anchor out in less than an hour. Still, time was wasting and we got started.

Then we heard a call on the radio. “No Boundaries, No Boundaries. This is Duet.” When we answered the call, we learned that a couple anchored behind a nearby island had heard our radio distress call. They had the “knowing” that comes from experience with grounding, and they were on their way to help. I prayed thanks that someone was coming, even if all they did was keep us company. When they arrived, however, they wasted no time in helping us get started with the solution that would actually get us off the rocks.

I remember that when we first went aground, I began to pray, and even as the hopeless surges of fear arose in my stomach, I also felt reassured that something would work. Most of all, I felt reassured that God was with us, a sense of things that only grew more certain as Bill and Barb from S/V Duet worked side by side with us to get us off those rocks. We all worked for hours, because this was no trivial problem. The wind was blowing at more than 20 mph, a great speed for sailing, but problematic in this situation. The tidal currents at the time of our grounding complicated our problem, because they were running strongly in a direction that forced us farther onto the reef. Around noon, the tide changed, and by then we were ready to take advantage of the current, thanks to our wonderful new friends. Around 1:30 in the afternoon, we all sat down in the cockpit to rest. The boat was afloat. Two anchors held us in place against both wind and current. As our new friends departed in their dinghy, we gave thanks for their help and for our new safe location. We felt deeply blessed by the kindness of these people. The Bible tells of many situations in which angels arrive to give messages and help people, and we felt pretty sure that Bill and Barb were angels. In days to come, they followed up with radio calls to be sure we were doing well. When we overheard their response to another boat that had run aground nearby, we became convinced that they were, indeed, angels, and the crew of the other boat agreed with us.

Our situation was no longer dire, but we still did not have an engine. Because our boat is a sailboat, however, we did have the option to sail out of the anchorage if Larry were unable to repair the engine and if wind and wave were appropriate for sailing. Bill and Barb had specifically planned for that possibility when they left us anchored directly in front of the entrance to the cove. We all thought that position poised us for success if we had to sail out. When all was said and done, Larry and I gave thanks for our new friends, and we gave thanks for God’s care for us in the difficult situation. The heavy weight of fear that had seized us at the moment of grounding was lifted, and we felt genuine relief.

The next day, we were still safely at anchor, but much more uncomfortable. The weather had changed. Winds directly from the east were pushing big waves at us through the opening that had seemed so convenient the day before. We were pummeled by the combination of the waves from the ocean and the ferocious tidal currents. We could not possibly sail out against the combined force of wind and current. Our anchors were under fearful strain, which began to produce a new problem. Our primary anchor was equipped with heavy chain all the way to its point of attachment to the boat. Our secondary, however, had only 75 feet of chain, after which the remaining rode was rope. The way we had anchored the first day put the secondary anchor in a location that gave it the primary stress on the second day, and that stress was beginning to chafe the rope rode. We scrambled to find gear to prevent the chafing, but none of our interventions was reliable for any length of time. We could not remain anchored like this, because the chafing would eventually part our rope rode, and we would lose our secondary anchor, not to mention that we would risk being blown back onto the reef again. We could not go, and we could not stay. Larry struggled with the engine problem to no avail. We prayed and watched and did what we could to alleviate the situation.

Once again, Bill from Duet stepped in to help. He saw a passing boat with huge twin outboards, and he hailed the captain with a request to help us move to a better location. After M/V Cutting Edge arrived, he helped us raise both of our anchors and then towed our boat to a location out of the current and more sheltered from wind. We felt pretty sure that he was an angel, too, and we prayed God’s blessings on him as he departed to continue his fishing trip. Again, we felt blessed and secure. Our new location was a place where we could safely remain until we either got the engine going or saw the right window to sail out, even if that were many days hence. We could not doubt for a minute that God was present with us. Once again, just when we were at the end of our abilities, God provided what we needed.

The next day was Sunday. As we prepared for our normal worship aboard, we commented to each other that we had more reason than usual to worship and praise God. So many good things had happened to us that we surely needed to give him thanks and praise more than ever. We could not focus on the bad things. They seemed trivial by comparison with our blessings. We worshiped. We prayed. We sang psalms and hymns. We celebrated God’s presence and power in our lives. We had no doubt that he was watching over us, present with us.

That afternoon, Larry went back to work on the engine. He went back to step one for analysis and trouble-shooting. He worked deliberately through all the steps, and eventually the moment came when the engine roared back to life. Again, we had something to be thankful for. The final piece of the solution was in place. We were no longer refugees looking for a way out; we were again cruisers exploring and adventuring. We shouted our thanks to God, and then we prayed together.

Throughout this experience we had the comforting presence of God in the midst of all our troubles. God did not step in and overturn the laws of nature. He did not work any magic on the boat or the engine. He did not teleport us to a diesel mechanic, or teleport a mechanic to us. He simply remained with us all the way. The solution worked out in simple steps. At each step, we felt relieved and thankful, and at each step we first thought that we ourselves would be able to manage the next step. When that proved impossible, God gave us just what we needed, no more and no sooner than we needed it. Materials managers would call it “Just in Time.” We call it God’s faithful provision and presence in our lives.

This probably won’t be the last time we go aground. People who cruise in the Bahamas take that possibility as a given. If we do ground again, we have the experience, enlightened by our angelic friends from S/V Duet, to help ourselves. We are learning a variety of skills in navigation, weather and survival. All that learning and growth is good. The best thing we have learned, however, is not about us. It is about God. We have learned that God truly is with us. He never abandons us. He gives us peace when we have no idea how we will solve or survive the next problem. This peace transcends any skill level or accomplishment we might ever have.

I have not always relied on God the way I do now. I am learning more and more every day how critical his presence is. Far from making me reckless, the confidence that he is present makes me more careful. When I am frightened, it allows me to do what my mother called, “making haste slowly,” to take my time to get all the facts and move forward with care. Knowing that God is with us, we have the peace to assess the situation and make a better decision. Knowing that God is with us, we know that he won’t abandon us if our best guess is wrong.

I am glad that Matthew recorded the story of Joseph’s dream and the explanation of the name “Emmanuel.” I’m glad that Matthew’s story of Jesus repeats that theme as Jesus’ promise to all generations. The promise and the experience of God’s presence enrich my life every day. When Satan tempts me to wonder if God cares or to ask why God let this happen, I can respond with faith nurtured by experience. Faith must, by definition, act in the absence of certainty, but my certainty about past experience builds up my faith that future experiences will only reveal more about the wonderful presence of God. I don’t know what else I will learn about prayer as we travel, but I have already learned that God is not kidding when he says, “I will not leave you or forsake you.”

The gospel of Matthew opens with the story of Joseph’s dream in which an angel reassures him about Mary’s pregnancy, telling him that it is the fulfillment of God’s promise of the Messiah, whose name, “Emmanuel” means “God is with us.” The gospel continues with the story of Jesus’ life and work. The last words of Jesus in this gospel are, “I am with you always, to the end of the age.” [Matthew 28:20] At the time when Matthew wrote, late in the first century, people who had seen Jesus in the flesh were dying off. The growing community of faith needed to be reminded that the indwelling Holy Spirit was the evidence that God truly was present with them and in them.

All these thousands of years later, we still need that reminder. When circumstances conspire to make us feel afraid and helpless, Satan tempts us to think that God has abandoned us. He makes us ask, “If God loves you, why did this terrible thing happen?” We need reassurance that the Holy Spirit is truly present and that in the person of the Holy Spirit, God never abandons us.

My husband and I recently had an experience that brought home the truth that God is always with us, even when we are not paying attention. It is important for us to remember that God’s presence with us does not negate the operation of the laws of physics or meteorology. God has promised that as long as the laws of nature work the way they are supposed to, his love is sure. We want those laws to work. However, when we become captive to them and unable to help ourselves, then it is very good to know that God is with us and that he will work for our good in amazing and wonderful ways. Above all that, whether or not the outcome is just what we hoped for, he is present with us to give us peace with the situation as it develops for good or ill.

We cruised southward one morning toward a destination about a day’s sail from our departure point. As will happen to sailors, however, along the way, we spied a little cove on the chart that looked attractive. We said to ourselves that we could go to our planned destination the next day as we turned aside to our new adventure. We studied the charts, and we studied the notes in guide books. I stood on the bow to spot hazards, and Larry was at the helm to steer to our anchorage.

As will happen sometimes, we became disoriented in the unfamiliar surroundings. Then, caught in a current and uncertain of the correct course, we ran aground. As we tried to steer off the reef, the engine stopped and refused to restart.

In the US, such a situation is annoying, but not the end of the world. Boaters unable to free themselves simply call for a tow, sigh at the cost if they don’t have insurance, and move on. In the Bahamas, the situation is much different. There is no tow service. The Bahamian rescue service is truly focused on rescue in life-and-death situations. A simple mistake that puts a boat aground is the boater’s problem. Boaters are responsible for themselves, and they are well-advised to stay out of trouble if they don’t know how to deal with it. “Knowing” that is the result of reading how to deal with the problem is not, however, the same thing as “knowing” as a result of having done it. We had read the solution, but we had never performed the solution.

On the off chance that there might be someone around who operated a tow service anyway, we made a radio call. No result. Hoping that the Bahamian rescue service could put us in touch with someone who could tow us off, we called them. They could not hear us, although later a marina manager served as a relay between us and them. Still, that communication only confirmed their commitment to rescue if lives were in danger.

Every day as we sail or motor in our adventures, I pray that we will have wisdom to use our skills and experience in whatever circumstances come our way. I always pray that we will be safe. This day was no exception, but sitting aboard our grounded vessel, not knowing how we would ever get free without an engine, I prayed that we would see a solution. We knew that the recommended course of action involved deploying an anchor in deeper water and using it to pull ourselves off the rocks, but it was going to take time to do that job, because our dinghy was deflated and wrapped up on deck. We could not possibly throw the anchor far enough to help, and we could not inflate the dinghy, deploy it in the water, attach the outboard and get the anchor out very soon. We were in a big mess.

Then we heard a call on the radio. “No Boundaries, No Boundaries. This is Duet.” When we answered the call, we learned that a couple anchored behind a nearby island had heard our radio distress call. They had the “knowing” that comes from experience with grounding, and they were on their way to help. I prayed thanks that someone was coming, even if all they did was keep us company. When they arrived, however, they wasted no time in helping us get started with the solution that would actually get us off the rocks.

I remember that when we first went aground, I began to pray, and even as the hopeless surges of fear arose in my stomach, I also felt reassured that something would work. Most of all, I felt reassured that God was with us, a sense of things that only grew more certain as Bill and Barb from S/V Duet worked side by side with us to get us off those rocks. We all worked for hours, because this was no trivial problem. The wind was blowing at more than 20 mph, a great speed for sailing, but problematic in this situation. The tidal currents at the time of our grounding complicated our problem, because they were running strongly in a direction that forced us farther onto the reef. Around noon, the tide changed, and by then we were ready to take advantage of the current, thanks to our wonderful new friends. Around 1:30 in the afternoon, we all sat down in the cockpit to rest. The boat was afloat. Two anchors held us in place against both wind and current. As our new friends departed in their dinghy, we gave thanks for their help and for our new safe location. We felt deeply blessed by the kindness of these people. The Bible tells of many situations in which angels arrive to give messages and help people, and we felt pretty sure that Bill and Barb were angels. In days to come, they followed up with radio calls to be sure we were doing well. When we overheard their response to another boat that had run aground nearby, we became convinced that they were, indeed, angels, and the crew of the other boat agreed with us.

Our situation was no longer dire, but we still did not have an engine. Because our boat is a sailboat, however, we did have the option to sail out of the anchorage if Larry were unable to repair the engine. Bill and Barb had specifically planned for that possibility when they left us anchored directly in front of the entrance to the cove. We all thought that position poised us for success if we had to sail out. When all was said and done, Larry and I gave thanks for our new friends, and we gave thanks for God’s care for us in the difficult situation. The heavy weight of fear that had seized us at the moment of grounding was lifted, and we felt genuine relief.

The next day, we were still safely at anchor, but much more uncomfortable. The weather had changed. Winds directly from the east were pushing big waves at us, and we were pummeled by the combination of the waves from the ocean and the ferocious tidal currents. We could not possibly sail out against the combined force of wind and current. Our anchors were under fearful strain, which began to produce a new problem. Our primary anchor was equipped with heavy chain all the way to its point of attachment to the boat. Our secondary, however, had only 75 feet of chain, after which the remaining rode was rope. The way we had anchored the first day put the secondary anchor in a location that gave it the primary stress on the second day, and that stress was beginning to chafe the rope rode. We scrambled to find gear to prevent the chafing, but none of our interventions was reliable for any length of time. We could not remain anchored like this, because the chafing would eventually part our rope rode, and we would lose our secondary anchor. We could not go, and we could not stay. Larry struggled with the engine problem to no avail. We prayed and watched and did what we could to alleviate the situation.

Once again, Bill from Duet stepped in to help. He saw a passing boat with huge twin outboards, and he hailed the captain with a request to help us move to a better location. After M/V Cutting Edge arrived, he helped us raise both of our anchors and then towed our boat to a location out of the current and more sheltered from wind. We felt pretty sure that he was an angel, too, and we prayed God’s blessings on him as he departed to continue his fishing trip. Again, we felt blessed and secure. Our new location was a place where we could safely remain until we either got the engine going or saw the right window to sail out, even if that were many days hence. We could not doubt for a minute that God was present with us. Once again, just when we were at the end of our abilities, God provided what we needed.

The next day was Sunday. As we prepared for our normal worship aboard, we commented to each other that we had more reason than usual to worship and praise God. So many good things had happened to us that we surely needed to give him thanks and praise more than ever. We could not focus on the bad things. They seemed trivial by comparison with our blessings. We worshiped. We prayed. We sang psalms and hymns. We celebrated God’s presence and power in our lives. We had no doubt that he was watching over us, present with us.

That afternoon, Larry went back to work on the engine. He went back to step one for analysis and trouble-shooting. He worked deliberately through all the steps, and eventually the moment came when the engine roared back to life. Again, we had something to be thankful for. The final piece of the solution was in place. We were no longer refugees looking for a way out; we were again cruisers exploring and adventuring. We shouted our thanks to God, and then we prayed together.

Throughout this experience we had the comforting presence of God in the midst of all our troubles. God did not step in and overturn the laws of nature. He did not work any magic on the boat or the engine. He did not teleport us to a diesel mechanic, or teleport a mechanic to us. He simply remained with us all the way. The solution worked out in simple steps. At each step, we felt relieved and thankful, and at each step we first thought that we ourselves would be able to manage the next step. When that proved impossible, God gave us just what we needed, no more and no sooner than we needed it. Materials managers would call it “Just in Time.” We call it God’s faithful provision and presence in our lives.

This probably won’t be the last time we go aground. People who cruise in the Bahamas take that possibility as a given. If we do ground again, we have the experience, enlightened by our angelic friends from S/V Duet, to help ourselves. We are learning a variety of skills in navigation, weather and survival. All that learning and growth is good. The best thing we have learned, however, is not about us. It is about God. We have learned that God truly is with us. He never abandons us. He gives us peace when we have no idea how we will solve or survive the next problem. This peace transcends any skill level or accomplishment we might ever have.

I have not always relied on God the way I do now. I am learning more and more every day how critical his presence is. Far from making me reckless, the confidence that he is present makes me more careful. When I am frightened, it allows me to do what my mother called, “making haste slowly,” to take my time to get all the facts and move forward with care. Knowing that God is with us, we have the peace to assess the situation and make a better decision. Knowing that God is with us, we know that he won’t abandon us if our best guess is wrong.

I am glad that Matthew recorded the story of Joseph’s dream and the explanation of the name “Emmanuel.” I’m glad that Matthew’s story of Jesus repeats that theme as Jesus’ promise to all generations. The promise and the experience of God’s presence enrich my life every day. When Satan tempts me to wonder if God cares or to ask why God let this happen, I can respond with faith nurtured by experience. Faith must, by definition, act in the absence of certainty, but my certainty about past experience builds up my faith that future experiences will only reveal more about the wonderful presence of God. I don’t know what else I will learn about prayer as we travel, but I have already learned that God is not kidding when he says, “I will not leave you or forsake you.”

July 2, 2009

Aboard No Boundaries

We cruised through the C&D Canal today and into Delaware Bay. It was a very interesting trip. We arrived at the canal at a time when our forward progress was impeded by the tide, but the tidal current had subsided somewhat by the time we reached the middle of the canal. When we exited the canal, we suddenly found ourselves racing to the ocean on the back of the flow of the river combined with an ebbing tidal flow, and our speed picked up dramatically. As we entered the canal, our engine was running at 1800
RPM, close to its maximum speed, and our speed over the ground as reported via our GPS was 4.1 knots. We never changed the speed of the engine, yet as we turned into the main channel of Delaware Bay, headed for the Atlantic Ocean, we were making 7.7 knots. Our speed had almost doubled, even though we were not doing anything different. Forces completely outside our control made all the difference in our rate of speed as we tried to go forward.

Have you ever had a life experience that felt like this? Have you ever put your all into a project or a goal only to see that you had to run as fast as possible just to stay even? Do you laugh when people suggest that you just need to work harder? You are already working as hard as you can, but you aren’t getting anywhere. Your engine is already running at maximum. What is really stopping you?

I have a friend who recently started a new job. After being laid off from a job she loved, she had felt completely disoriented. Three months of praying and searching resulted in no progress she could see, even though she tried as hard as possible. She worked at least as hard searching for a job as she had ever worked for her employer, yet nothing produced even a hint of a real opportunity for her. When her severance pay ended and she faced life on unemployment checks, desperation led her to take a job that seems to have no future. Still praying, still searching, she tells me she doesn’t know how to do more. Like our engine running against the tide, she is working just as hard as ever for half the payback. She yearns to turn into the channel where her energy and her circumstances will produce progress and fulfillment. Does God not hear her prayers?

Four hundred years after their arrival in Egypt, the descendants of Jacob felt just the way my friend feels. They had originally made their home in Egypt as honored guests of the pharaoh. He specified a large section of the Nile delta for them to call home. It would be naïve for us to think pharaoh’s generosity was selfless, because when he saw Joseph’s large and prosperous family, he must have wondered if they would try to lure Joseph away. Yet the fact that he wanted Joseph’s services enough to give a large section of his country to Joseph’s relatives tells us that he honored the family. They enjoyed the favor and respect of the pharaohs for many generations.

Then we read that “a new king arose over Egypt, who did not know Joseph.” There can be a lot of political change in four hundred years, and this circumstance is not surprising. There had no doubt been any number of kings between the time of Joseph and the time of Moses who would not have known Joseph. The problem arose when a new pharaoh looked at the land of Goshen and its population of wealthy shepherds and saw a threat. Talk about racism! For hundreds of years these people had bothered nobody, yet this new king began to worry about their loyalty to Egypt. He said, “Let us deal shrewdly with them, or they will increase and, in the event of war, join our enemies and fight against us.” When my friend was laid off from her job, she felt blindsided, and the Israelites must have felt the same way when they heard what the new king thought of them.

Of course, we don’t exactly know the timing of the arrival of the new king and the beginning of the oppression of the Hebrews. The Bible does not tell us that the new king appeared four  hundred years later. It could have been only two hundred years later, and the oppression could have escalated over the next two hundred years. We don’t need to know the whole timetable to know that the people were in misery. It doesn’t take long for cruelty and oppression to feel like four hundred years. Add to that the deliberate genocide mandated by the pharaoh, and every day might feel like four hundred years.

One of the most dramatic acts of oppression was to put the Israelites to making a daily quota of bricks, and then to remove their supply line, requiring them to produce the daily quota while providing their own supplies of straw. Just like our engine working as hard as it could against the tide, they worked harder than ever in order to stay even and not fall behind. They could not beat the goal set for them by working harder. More effort and more work only produced more demands.

What had the Israelites done wrong? Did God not hear their prayer?

One of our big problems with God’s promises is our inability to understand time as God sees it. We can’t even imagine seeing the world from God’s infinite and eternal perspective. What is four hundred years, or a month or a millennium to a God who lives in an eternal NOW? To say that sounds crass. It sounds as if God could not care less what happens to us.

Yet he would never have sent Jesus to die for us if that were true. How are we to interpret the fact that God almost never intervenes miraculously to prevent us from experiencing pain? Trouble? Defeat?

I think Jesus explained God’s view of time vividly in the story of the wheat and the tares. In that story, the servants, like you and me, thought the weeds needed to be removed right away. They could not bear to see those weeds crowding the good wheat. Besides, it felt like defeat for the enemy’s seeds to be allowed to mature along with the good crop. However, the master of the farm looked at the whole scene from a different perspective. He wanted every grain of wheat to have the opportunity to mature and bear fruit. He was willing to tolerate the presence of the competitor weeds in order to give the wheat its opportunity. Unlike the servants, he wasn’t willing to lose one grain of his good wheat.

We often think of the story as an explanation for the presence of evil in the world, and it is that. Yet it is also about time. We cry out, “How long, O Lord?” The Lord answers, “I will be with you till the end of time.” In other words, we need to understand that our viewpoint doesn’t give us the big picture.

Of course, the other truth is one that Job had to learn, too. God, who creates and sustains everything, is not accountable to us for his timing. We tend to believe that we can drub God with his promises to us and demand action. This attitude is complete self-worship. To expect that we can force God’s hand in order to get what we want is totally incompatible with the teaching of the Bible. If this is the right view of things, why have so many faithful Christians suffered so much at the hands of evil men?

Jesus said, “Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.” This is the same Jesus who said, “I am with you always, to the end of the age.” When we are spinning our wheels, when we are pushing hard against immoveable barriers, when we are crushed by forces of evil, it does not mean that we have been forgotten. It does not mean that we should stop praying. Quite the contrary. When things seem very challenging, even threatening, it is time to trust God more than ever. This is the time to remember that God alone sees all the way to the harvest at the end of time. God alone will know the right moment to burn up the Enemy and all the weeds he has planted. As we are crowded and threatened by the weeds forcing themselves into our path, the weeds that scarf up the riches and the power of this world, we must remember that God is with us preserving us and making us ready for that final harvest when evil will be done away with.

On a different trip through Delaware Bay, we were traveling upstream at the time of tidal ebb. This meant that our engine at 1800 RPM could only make a speed of 1.2 knots over ground. That speed is even less than the 4.1 knots we made in the C&D Canal. There are life experiences that feel that way, and if we do not trust that God is with us and still in control, such experiences will lead us to despair. The book of Revelation reminds us that when the forces of evil rage their loudest, that is the time for us to testify as the apostle Paul wrote, “For this gospel I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher, and for this reason I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know the one in whom I have put my trust, and I am sure that he is able to guard until that day what I have entrusted to him.” [2 Timothy 1:11-12] Paul accepted the responsibility to do the work God had given him, he accepted the fact that he was resisted on every hand by evil, and he spoke his testimony of trust in God alone to bring about the accomplishments God had in mind. Our faithful testimony is part of God’s arsenal of weapons against evil in the eternal perspective. When we feel most stymied, when we sense that forces beyond our control are impeding our progress in the work the Lord has given us to do, that is the time to say, “I know that I am blessed, for I am persecuted because of the name of the Lord. Blessed be the name of the Lord.”

Aboard No Boundaries

June 9, 2009

I use Daily Texts published by Mt. Carmel Ministries as my guide for daily devotions. I have used it since 2000. I am frequently amazed to discover that the verses selected for a given day have something quite relevant to say about my life at that moment. It happened again today.

Seek the Lord and his strength; seek his presence continually. Psalm 105:4

This verse reminds me how easy it is to lose touch with God by ignoring him. He dwells within us in the person of the Holy Spirit. He surrounds us with his love and sustains us by his grace. Yet despite God’s ongoing efforts to nourish the relationship, it is pretty easy for us to become distracted and inattentive. When Jesus said, “If anyone wants to follow me,” he did say “wants.” He did not say, “is compelled to.” God wants us to want the relationship as much as he does. In order to do our part, we must “seek his presence continually.”

As I thought about this verse, I thought about the things that have happened in my life over the past few years. Among other things, I have grown to value and seek a deeper relationship with God. I have learned to rely on his strength when my own was inadequate to the situation. I sat on the deck meditating and praying while the morning sun shone on a beautiful cove in Chesapeake Bay, and I recalled what a different scene it had been only 12 hours before.

We had arrived in this cove shortly before 6PM the evening of June 8. Although it was several hours before sunset, the sun was not to be seen at that time. To the east the sky was darkening. Clouds were roiling and thickening higher and higher as we watched. We rushed to set the anchor, hoping to complete that task successfully before the storm began. Lightning flashed in the distance. The wind picked up. A few drops were already falling by the time Larry had set the anchor and rushed back to the cockpit.

Above us the sky displayed all the portents of a dangerous storm. Its danger was confirmed by constant alarms and warnings from the National Weather Service. Mariners were advised to seek safe harbor immediately. We could see with our own eyes the bulbous underbelly of storm clouds that could spawn tornadoes. Wild cloud formations hinted at severe and frightening updrafts and downdrafts within the clouds. The weather announcer warned of torrential downpours, potential for winds up to 60mph, and even hail.

We were settled into the safest harbor available to us. With a roar the wind and rain hit us and shook us dramatically. We were completely gripped by the power of the storm.

Our anchor was set, but the bottom of the Bay in this location is silt to a very great depth. A heavy anchor and heavy chain will grip silt the best it can, but when winds exceed about 20 knots, the wind has the upper hand. We began to drag. We had been in storms before, but never before had we experienced wind that swirled and twisted like this. We were dragged one way, then another. We were pushed away from the shore where we had hoped the trees would at least slow the fury. Another boat was also anchored in the area, and it, too, was dragged wildly about. Ordinarily we would expect that all boats would be pushed in the same direction at about the same time, but in this storm, the wind was so chaotic that we found ourselves being pushed closer and closer to each other. Larry gunned our engine, which we had kept running as things developed, and we were able to force our way against the wind sufficiently to avoid collision with the other boat. Furious wind heeled the boat dramatically one way, then the other, and finally turned us around in a complete circle.

As this storm worked its will with us, I prayed. I must confess that in every storm I become fearful, but I am simultaneously in awe at the beauty in the power of the storm. I prayed for protection and safety, and I gave thanks for the chance to see this storm. Never before have we been able actually to see anything, because our other major storm experiences were at night. I could see the water writhing as the wind stirred it like a Kitchen-Aid mixer. I could see the rain pelting us. I could hear the roar of the wind and the thunder.

Why would I give thanks for something that could conceivably ground or maybe destroy our boat?

This is what the Lord says, he who appoints the sun to shine by day, who decrees the moon and stars to shine by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar – the Lord Almighty is his name: “Only if these decrees vanish from my sight,” declares the Lord, “will the descendants of Israel ever cease to be a nation before me.”

            Jeremiah 31:35-36

As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winder, day and night, shall not cease.

            Genesis 8:22

I could give thanks for the storm, because it was  proof that the laws of nature were reliably producing phenomena as God planned. As long as the laws of nature are working, God loves me and will care for me. Paul described Christians as the true descendants of Abraham begotten of faith and reproduced in the line of promise. We are his kingdom of priests, the nation he preserves and protects. I give thanks for the evidence in nature that confirms God’s promise to me. I can seek his strength, because I can plainly see that the laws of nature are working. God’s loving hand is in the wind that “stirs up the sea so that its waves roar.” His hand is with me, too, guarding and guiding me with his love.

After more than an hour of tumult, the storm relented enough that we had some hope it was over. Larry went forward to retrieve the anchor and set it again. The wind was still blowing, although with far less ferocity. It was raining. As he pulled up the chain to retrieve the anchor, he tried to distribute it on deck to keep the right amount available when he set it again. He was barefooted, even though he wore his rain jacket and hat, and I worried about his safety. There was great danger on the heaving deck that he might entangle a foot in the chain, or catch his hand on the windlass resulting in severe injury. A sudden fierce gust might even heel the boat so dramatically that he would be thrown into the water. As he worked, I prayed that he might have the wisdom, the patience, the peace and the strength to do what must be done safely. I sought God’s strength for him and for me.

It turned out that the storm was far from spent. As Larry worked, it coiled up another hour of ferocity that again dragged us all over the cove and even grounded us temporarily. I continued to pray, alternately giving thanks for the integrity of the laws of nature, the sign of God’s love, and asking strength and safety for us and our boat, trusting his love and his promise to hear our prayers.

Everyone who asks, receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. Luke ll:10

God heard my prayers. He gave me the gift of greater faith. He encouraged my appreciation of the aesthetics of the storm. He gave me wisdom to trust him and to work with Larry to do what it took to save our boat. It was scary to be completely at the mercy of the storm, yet the storm formed in the natural way weather forms. God promised that as long as the laws of nature work, he will always love us. I trusted that love, and it gave me peace. How amazing and marvelous that the very next morning, the verses presented for meditation in Daily Texts (Psalm 105:4 and Luke 11:10) spoke so directly to my experience.

I am deeply grateful for God’s revelation of himself in the Bible. I am profoundly in the debt of all the people who preserved those words that they might be in my hands when I need them. I am richly blessed by my experience daily that just as ancient people heard those words and said, “These words are for us,” I, too, can read those words and say, “These words are for me.”

Does God need to orchestrate tragedy in order to bring good to pass? A lot of people think he does exactly that. I have heard any number of people accuse God of preparing tragedy in their lives as “tests” or as lesson plans for their instruction. It might even be possible to interpret the book of Revelation that way.

 The book of Revelation records a vision of an effort by humans to “fix” the world without any help from God, and it records some unspeakably horrific tragedies. The narrative of Revelation pulls back the curtain behind the events we see and touch to show us things we do not normally see and touch. It pierces the barrier between time and eternity, between the finite and the infinite, between the temporary reality we can weigh and measure and the eternal reality not subject to us. In Revelation we see our present reality played out against a backdrop of warfare between God and Satan, between pure good and pure evil. In this captivating story, God continually tries to get the attention of people who have been deluded by Satan, calling them to a relationship with Him which will save them from the clutches of Satan’s demonic plans for them. People don’t want anything to do with God, because they want to do it all themselves. They try personal empowerment, they try big government, and they try all sorts of twists on religion. They try anything but a relationship with God. No matter what is going on, the people who love and serve God appear to be in a minority, always under threat as enemies of the earthly powers, treated like traitors to the human hegemony.

 In the midst of the murder and mayhem of this vision, there is a pause. The pause is about prayer. The prayers and the testimony of believers rise up to the throne of God like incense and everything stops. It is a powerful image of the significance of the testimony and prayer of the faithful. It is an image that reinforces our understanding of the value of humans to God. Everything stops while God receives and rejoices in the prayer and testimony of his redeemed children.

Revelation makes it clear that God need not orchestrate terror in order for there to be terror. Christians need not wait for God to plan tragedy in their lives, because it is coming. The power of Satan working behind the scenes, acting through people who have rejected God, is guaranteed to produce plenty of tragedy on the earth for everyone to share. Christians will always have opportunity to grow in faith under duress without God applying the duress. Yet the additional message of Revelation is that no matter how horrifying the duress, people will continue to turn away from God.

The more important lesson for Christians under duress, however, is this: God wins. When we cling to God in terror at all that is around us, we are clinging to the Alpha and Omega who transcends all the terror. God wins. When we pray and testify and listen to the voice of the indwelling Holy Spirit, we are doing the only thing that will ever have any impact on the situation. Throughout the book of Revelation, the action stops only as the prayers of the saints rise up to the throne of God.

When I gather with my congregation on a Wednesday evening for communion by candlelight, I see a living image of the way our faithful testimony and prayer work to push back the darkness around us. Light a candle in a dark room, and the darkness cannot squelch it. In this image, I see our prayer and testimony to God pushing back evil. In the gathering of fellow believers our faith is nourished and replenished. We come into the light, we share the body and blood of the Lamb, and we testify to what he has done for us.

The world I live in today is certainly full of frightening and depressing news. It isn’t the worst of all times, but it certainly isn’t the best, either. I worry about the freedom and prosperity of my children and my grandchildren. I often feel helpless as I contend with my own drive to fix everything myself. I can’t do it. There is only one thing I can do that will have any value in the larger scheme of things. I can pray to the Eternal and Infinite God, and I can testify to the power of the Lamb in my own life. I can’t slay the Great Dragon, but I can push him back just a little every time I pray and testify. That is how I will handle the disasters in my life until time ends and God wins.

 Forgiveness is a subject Christians discuss often. When the Brief Order for Confession and Forgiveness is part of a worship service we are reminded that before God we are flawed and broken and in need of repair.

Our flaws and brokenness, however, manifest themselves not only in our relationship with God, but also in our relationships with each other. God wants us to have healthy relationships with family and friends and siblings in the faith. Jesus taught that love of neighbor is the second most important commandment. When our relationships with people are broken, we need forgiveness from them as well as from God. Jesus said we were to ask God for forgiveness “as we forgive.”

Recently while preparing to teach a study of Christian teaching about forgiveness, I discovered Ancient Faith Radio. At http://ancientfaith.com I found audio files of music and sermons in the Orthodox tradition. Among the many interesting subjects was a pair of sermons on forgiveness. In one of those sermons I heard about something new and intriguing: a ritual of mutual forgiveness.

Being Lutheran, I am accustomed to start the Lenten season on Ash Wednesday, but Orthodox Christians use a different calendar, and they start Lent on a Sunday evening. Listening to the sermon on forgiveness, I learned that the first service of the Lenten season in an Orthodox church concludes with a ritual unfamiliar to me. Each person in the congregation turns first to someone beside him and asks, “Will you forgive me?” to which the other person responds, “I forgive you.” They expect that every person will ask forgiveness of every other person in the congregation.

The speaker noted that congregants have asked him on numerous occasions why they must ask forgiveness of people they don’t even know. He answers by pointing out how the behavior of each person has repercussions none of us really follow. A cascade of troubling behavior in need of forgiveness might begin when I yelled at my child for not being dressed in time to catch the bus for school. At school my child is in a bad mood and mouths off to his teacher when she is lining up the class to go to lunch. That evening the teacher, frustrated by her chaotic day, flings plates on the table for supper, at which point her child stomps off to her room feeling tromped on. A lot of behavior by a lot of people contributed to that cascade, which is replicated millions of times each day. A lot of forgiveness needed here. I felt as if a light bulb had turned on. 

Inspired by the story of this Orthodox ritual, I decided to try it. During Lent, I was scheduled to lead a prayer service focused on self-examination. At the end of the service I asked my small group, about twenty people, to ask and receive forgiveness in the form of the Orthodox ritual. Each person was to turn to someone and say, “Will you forgive me?” to which I suggested the response, “I forgive you for Jesus’ sake.” I thought a few would try it, but I actually expected that some would simply slip away.

To my amazement, everyone participated, and even more amazing was the sight of people going beyond the scripted exchange of forgiveness to embrace each other. Some even had tears in their eyes as they walked from person to person receiving and granting forgiveness. It seems very clear to me that mutual forgiveness is a grace we all could use more of.

I don’t know what the long-term repercussions of this experience will be. I can’t guess what others in the group are thinking this morning. I can speak only for myself. This experience taught me something very important. When we speak of the ways Christians can help each other grow in the faith, we use the term support. We think of it the way athletic teams work together, each player encouraging others, even when they are struggling. From this time forward, my understanding of mutual encouragement will always include mutual forgiveness. All our relationships with family and friends are marked with moments when we hurt each other accidentally, and sometimes on purpose. We very much need to acknowledge that it has happened and to assure each other that our loving relationship is not destroyed or somehow lessened by those wounds. Forgiveness acknowledges the wounds and applies a healing balm to them. The teaching of the Lord’s Prayer that forgiving each other is as important as being forgiven by God truly came to life for me in a ritual of mutual forgiveness.

In the book The Shack, the author explores a question many of us ask when we realize that we are expected to forgive people. The central character, Mack, is consumed with grief over the abduction and death of his daughter, Missy. Confronted with the suggestion that he ought to forgive the person who harmed his daughter, he asks, “Is it fair to Missy if I don’t stay angry with him?” We humans think we want everything to be fair. In fact, that is not what we want at all.

Mack, for example, suffers not only from guilt due to his perception that he failed Missy, but he also suffers from guilt due to his fear that her abduction might be God’s judgment or punishment for a terrible sin from his childhood. He certainly wants to be fair to Missy, but if cosmic fairness means that Missy pays for his wrong-doing, he isn’t so sure that “fairness” is what he wants. Likewise, forgetting the past, Mack looks forward to the possibility that the perpetrator of this horrible crime might actually be caught, and then he wonders if forgiving that person means he shouldn’t want him to pay for his crime. would that be fair? 

Most of us are conflicted over the whole idea of forgiveness. We like being forgiven by others, but we are less eager to grant forgiveness, because deep inside we are pretty sure the person we resent does not deserve forgiveness. To forgive would be an affront to our sense of honor and justice. It is completely human to believe that other people deserve punishment while we ourselves deserve mercy.

There is a different way to look at the situation. When Jesus was with his disciples, he told them, “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” [John 20:23]  Some people interpret this statement as if it meant the inadequacy of the death of Jesus on the cross. Some wonder if we humans can keep God from forgiving other people. We should not assume such a preposterous notion. This statement, coming from the One who told his disciples that they must forgive people, no matter how many times people sin against them, can hardly be understood to give them a license to reject forgiveness and condemn those bad people.

What really happens when one person refuses forgiveness to another? The Hatfields and the McCoys give us a comic example of a horrific reality: unforgiveness destroys the one who does not forgive. Jesus told his disciples the deep and frightening truth that if they chose not to forgive, unforgiveness would dwell within them. Shakespeare gave us a dramatic picture of the consequences of unforgiveness as he showed us how a family feud that would not die doomed a young and beautiful couple. The Balkan peninsula has become the image historians perennially call upon to show what happens when nations try to take vengeance for offenses hundreds of years in the past. The movement of some black people in the US to demand reparations for slavery, which has not existed in this country for more than a hundred years, is the expression of an unwillingness to forgive a wrong that is over and done with. Unforgiveness creates victims, and victims give birth to a communal malaise that destroys its victims for generations.

When Jesus taught us how to pray, he also was teaching us how to live. In the most important prayer we will ever learn, Jesus taught us to say, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” This important petition embodies a cry for the healing of all people. We ask that our guilt for wrongs we have done be washed away and that the wounds we have received at the hands of others be healed. When we both request and grant forgiveness, we are engaged in what Martin Luther described as the daily drowning of our sins in the waters of baptism. All humanity is forgiven and broken relationships are healed as we pray this prayer.

Forgiveness is not a way to let wrong-doers “get by” with evil. If someone murders my daughter, and I forgive the murderer, my forgiveness does not excuse that person from paying the price of such a crime. The murderer does not “get by” with murder when I forgive him or her. However, we are both set free of the poison of that evil act when I grant and the murderer receives forgiveness. I will not spend endless days seething in anger and grief. I won’t shut myself down and deny all God’s goodness because of this crime. When I forgive the murderer, I make myself available to the healing and redemptive power of the Holy Spirit. What’s more, my forgiveness granted to the perpetrator of a horrible crime also crashes through one more barrier to the work of the Holy Spirit in that person’s life. If I refuse to forgive, the unforgiveness in my heart may well lead to two lives in a prison of the heart, a much more secure prison than any operated by the federal government.

Forgiveness is often seen as a hard task demanded by a cruel God. If we read the Bible prayerfully, we will soon come to realize that forgiveness is a beautiful gift to everyone from a loving God. It is more than fair; it is a blessing.

As I prepare to teach a class in the subject area of faith practices, I am well aware that many people of faith profess to have neither the time nor the inclination for any “practices.” They say that they believe in God, and they leave it at that. I respect their freedom to choose that plan, but I have learned that I need practice my faith. I pray that those who choose never to practice need never perform their faith.

A story is told about the great violinist Paganini. Someone invited him to a social gathering in the middle of the afternoon, and Paganini declined. His friend pressed him, but Paganini simply said that he needed to practice.

“Oh, surely you are joking,” his friend said. “The great Paganini? You are the master. You don’t need to practice.”

Paganini replied, “If I miss even one day of practice, I notice. If I miss two days of practice, the conductor notices. If I miss three days of practice, the whole world notices.”

Practicing our faith is much the same. Faith practices build our relationship with Christ in a manner analogous to the way music rehearsals build musical comprehension and artistry. Practice isn’t simply about doing the same thing over and over; it is about the growth in understanding that informs your practice and makes the performance more powerful.

We might take instruction from the behavior of the disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane while Jesus prayed. Jesus invited Peter, James and John to go apart from the other disciples and pray with him. Even Jesus wanted prayer partners as he prayed about the horror that faced him. He prayed so fervently that his sweat was like drops of blood. Jesus, completely human even as he was completely God, truly did not want to endure crucifixion. He prayed in the hope that there might be some other way to save humankind. He wanted the men he had named “friends” during supper to care enough to pray with him.

The friends, however, did not have the stamina to persevere in prayer with Jesus. He prayed for hours, and every time he went back to talk with them, they were asleep. He needed their fellowship in prayer, he needed their companionship, but they were not ready. They could not keep up. They needed more practice. Their faith was not yet up to strength for the work they had to do.

The same thing can happen to any of us. We are cruising along in the highway of life, believing in God without question, when along comes cancer, or the death of a child, or layoff, or divorce. We discover that we are living in a battleground, and we don’t know what weapons are available or how to use them. We need practice.

This is why I am teaching a class on faith practices. The practices of prayer, study, worship, invitation, encouragement, service and giving are not magic bullets against disaster. Skill and finesse in performance of the practices will not magically defuse the crises of human life. The value of practice is not the activity; the value is the way a practice builds relationship with our living Lord.  When football players run through a field of tires day after day, the coach does not reward them with a medal in tire-running. They get the reward in competition when they are able to make plays requiring agility and speed. So it is with us. We ask why it matters that we trust in the living Christ. We wonder why we need to know him better. We dispute the value of prayer or the meaning of stewardship. The practices are not about theology; they are about relationship.

When I was a child, the highway construction season meant that I seldom saw my father. He often left for work before I got up in the morning. It wasn’t uncommon for him to get home after the rest of us had eaten supper. One busy summer, he left so early and returned so late every day that I didn’t see him at all for several weeks. I didn’t notice it happening, but over the summer instead of wishing he would come home I began to fear that he would come home. When he did show up for supper, I didn’t know how to talk to him. We were not practicing the father/daughter relationship, and I, at least, didn’t know how to fix the situation. Fortunately, the season came to an end, and I was able to spend time daily with my father again. My relationship with my father was a cherished part of my life until his death in 1996.

The same thing happens when we fail to spend time with our heavenly father. It isn’t God’s fault. His schedule doesn’t change. He is always near, as David said, “Where can I go from your spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence?” (Psalm 139:17 NRSV) We are the ones who wander. If we want to feel at home with God when trouble strikes, we need to spend time with him before the crisis. That is what faith practices are all about.

“Your life is shaped by the end you live for. You are made in the image of what you desire. “ – Thomas Merton