Life Matters - October 16, 2024
Two weeks after hurricane Helene wrought its September 24th havoc in the Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina and Tennessee, hurricane Milton tore through central Florida on October 9th, wreaking its havoc but with less devastation than expected and prepared for by those preparing for the worst-case scenario of a category 5 hurricane. Or worse, which would have been uncharted territory. Praise the Lord it downgraded to a category 3 or 2…Praise the Lord for the responsive awareness of caring people helping with recovery. The combination of wind and water leaves devastation in its path…
As a young man, working for my building contractor father-in-law, he had the business pay for taking the crews and himself on a deep-sea fishing trip somewhere off the coast of Delaware. We did quite well that day, reeling in quite a number of big fish which the captain referred to as ‘’blues.’’ We caught the majority in one spot when we got into what said captain referred to as a ‘’school of blues.’’ Big fish were taking our bait, hooks being set, line screaming from our reels, gain some line, lose some, gain more each time, fish brought alongside the boat, netted and brought on board, put on ice to clean later.
The coolers weren’t full yet when our captain, with whom I had struck up somewhat of an acquaintance, pulled anchor and motored us away from our fishermen’s delight. Standing at the helm he was close enough to my spot along the deck railing that I could ask him, “What’s up? Why are we leaving now?’’
Captain looked over his left shoulder, pointed with his chin and said, “they are nothing to mess with.’’ I followed his gaze by the point of his chin and with a shock to my senses I saw what the good captain saw. It looked like a slender tornado but then again it didn’t. ‘’It’s a twister all right,” he informed us, “but it’s not a dry one, it’s sucking up water. It’s called a waterspout and if it were to hit us”… his voice trailed off… then…”we’d be lucky to make it out alive …It’s several miles away from us now,” our good captain assured his fishermen, “I just want to keep it that way.’’
Its going on 40 years since that day on the Atlantic, but the sight of that waterspout with its sinister funnel extending from a dark cloud to its bottom end on the disturbed ocean waters moving around like a live thing is still as if etched in my memory with the captain’s words ‘’the funnel you’re seeing is sucked up water… imagine that hitting us…’’
I didn’t care to imagine, so my vivid imagination stayed subjected to reality, which still meant that putting more distance between us and said funnel was probably a good idea despite the ‘’school of blues’’ we were leaving behind. In the battle between common sense and opportunity our ‘’common sense’’ didn’t catch any more fish that day but we did live to fish more another day. Common sense still tells me that moving on from a good school of blues is preferable to being hit by the sucking maw of a waterspout.
Opportunities are not always safe, they come fraught with danger. God has woven a discipline of natural law into the fabric of nature that is impossible not to reckon with and personally liberating to submit to. We do well to pay attention. Feelings need subjected to reality, not vice-versa. While grace is still available. Before that great and cataclysmic day (cataclysmic for those ignoring danger) when Jesus comes to forever redeem the redeemed to that final Redemption. May we be found clean, our sins washed away in His blood. (Revelation 1:5, 7:14) Ceasing to gamble, with never-dying souls, because of some temporal gain we may envision or perhaps are involved in. More fish would’ve been nice, but in facing reality they would already be out with “the draught.” (Matthew 15:17)
Whom we give our ultimate allegiance to is also who we, inevitably, look to for ultimate affirmation. Affirmation. We all need it, do we not? We cannot help it. We desire it. We long for it. It seems we cannot get enough of it. And our tendency is to look for it in the wrong places. To desire affirmation even when our souls are at risk because of not preparing for spiritual storms that twist, churn, and slam into us whether we are aware or not aware.
Affirmation from other people is good when we are doing right and good things. Especially for children who are still developing discernment skills. Affirmation to each other has a much needed place in personal development into adulthood as well, in acknowledging the value of others in our lives as we live out that adulthood, in the development of personal lives, family life, church life, in the development of a God-fearing culture and traditions, affirming words, tone, actions, play a vital role. Affirmation is as an integrated circuit, sparking healthy relationships. And yes, in case you’re wondering, I wish I had seen it sooner.
Affirmation from people, however, can get out of hand, even dangerous. We may want affirmation when we are actually in danger, because warnings are hard to accept. They don’t feel good. They disrupt our lives. They disrupt our fishing. It is only when we personally open the reception of our hearts to God’s Word that we can spiritually understand, eventually appreciate, the warnings that He gives. And sense the ultimate affirmation that God alone can give. Because Jesus Lives!
When our ultimate allegiance goes to God, and His ultimate affirmation comes to us, we are complete. In Him.
Life Matters!