Life is Like That
A minister
made an interesting observation. He said, "Life isn't like a roller
coaster. Life is like train tracks." He further explained that when a
train travels down its track, one rail is always to its right and one to its
left. We travel on a train called life and on our left is a rail of problems
and bad moments, but the rail on our right are blessings and joys. Both are
always with us, balancing each other and carrying us along. I tend to look at
my life as a boat trip across a sea. I set off at birth from one shore on a
voyage to a distant one. The wind some times blows me toward another place,
sometimes dies and leaves me in the doldrums, sometimes slows or speeds me on
my way, sometimes threatens to capsize me into a deep, opaque place where
creatures lurk who may be benign or may be a threat. Some of these are evil
beasts who would do me great harm; some may be sirens who would tempt me into
becoming a prisoner to my own desires and lusts, and lost forever.
There are always waves. Some days they are small
and gentle, comforting one like a mother rocks her baby to calm it. Other days
it rolls the craft, makes you tense or stirs you to full alertness. There are
big waves that occasionally strike that might tear it asunder, leaving you
adrift on splintered planks.
And you
must steer your course and make decisions on how to deal with these changes of
weather and tides. To sail across a sea to the destination of your choice,
every good sailor knows, you need a chart and a star to guide you straight. If
you read your chart and keep your eye and contact on that star, you will arrive
safely in the Promised Land you seek. You may have had many adventures on the
way, hopefully with a faithful first mate to share the trip and to ward off the
pirates and sharks that may attempt to belay you. My chart for sailing across
the sea of life is the Bible and my guiding star is God: Father, Son and Holy
Spirit. His star is always bright and twinkles even through fog and cloud, you
just have to trust and follow that course it sets.
The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry
land. -- Psalm 95:5
Life is Like That Redux
Three men
who lived near the sea, but not near each other heard of a wonderful place.
They each desired to travel there and decided it was only accessible by water
travel. One man built a raft. He put all he had on his raft and pushed it into
the sea near his home and hopped aboard. He didn't think he had to do anything
more. There was a tide and he believed the current would carry him to the
wonderful place. Several miles down the shore his raft was smashed to pieces on
a rocky outcrop. He was lucky to escape with his life. This was predestined
for there was no other course the tide would have taken him, except to these
rocks.
The second
man had a small boat, which he equipped with a sail. He launched from a dock
and hoisted the sail. Never having sailed before, he
simply laid back letting the winds carry him along. Soon the shoreline faded in
the distance and he saw nothing but water and sky for days as the wind blew him
this way and that. By chance he came to land. He jumped from his boat
just as a change of breeze began to blow back toward the sea and waded to the
beach. He soon discovered himself alone on a small island with no way to leave.
The third
man also set sail in a small dinghy. Before he started he obtained some charts
and a sextant. He drew a bead on a fixed star and followed a course across the
sea. He had learned how to trim his sail or set it to the advantage of the
breezes, and when he found himself in doldrums, he had oars and rowed himself
along. There were storms he had to face and times he felt inadequate to the
task, but he reached the wonderful land. It wasn't by chance or because he was
predestined to reach it, but because he kept his eye on the star and, with some
effort on his own part, followed its leading.
All the above photos at sea by the author.
It’s Never Too Late
(On the left: Titian's The Good Thief on the
Cross, c.1565)
People say
"If only..." when looking back to the past. They say, "I believe
all things work for good" when facing a current difficulty. Sometimes when
speaking of the future they say, "it's never too late" Quite often,
we Christians tell people it is never too late to accept Christ as
Savior.
To prove a
person can be saved in even their final moments, we point to one of the thieves
crucified along side Christ.
One of the criminals who hung there hurled
insults at him: "Aren't you the Christ? Save yourself and
us!" But the other criminal rebuked him. "Don't you fear
God," he said, "since you are under the same sentence? We are
punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has
done nothing wrong." Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you
come into your kingdom." Jesus answered him, "I tell you the
truth, today you will be with me in paradise." Luke 23:39-43
Although
last gasp salvation is possible, we need to modify saying it is never too late.
Before you die, it is not too late to come to saving grace. If you die
without it, then it is too late.
There is
another aspect of this expression we need to consider. Is it completely true
that in this life it is never too late?
People say
it is never too late to live a certain way or reach a goal. It many cases,
though, it is too late. I am in my seventies; it's too late for me to become a
Major League Baseball Star. My wife is my same age and has had a hysterectomy;
it is too late for her to have another baby.
When people
are young they say I want to enjoy life now. I can go to church and do all that
religious stuff when I get old. That may or may not be too late. You may not
get old. You might be in a car accident and die on the highway. You may be a
soldier in a war and be blown to smithereens. You may simply have a heart
attack at 40. Then it will be too late for that "religious
stuff".
"In the time of my favor I heard you, and in
the day of salvation I helped you. I tell you, now is the time of God's
favor, now is the day of salvation." 2 Corinthians 6:2
There is something else to consider even if you live
long and prosper, have no car wreck, suffer no war and never get ill. There
seems to be the possibility you can deliberately ignore the Holy Spirit too
often and then God may give you over to your own desires and you become blind
in your sins to your need of Salvation through Christ.
(Photo on the right by the author is of Rodin's "Gates of
Hell", Rodin Museum, Philadelphia, Pa. 2006)
It may be too late
for you.
The only path
ahead may be one you find satisfying to your ego and filled with all the
earthly pleasures you lust after, but then in all too short a time it will come
to an end at the Gates of Hell.
Our saying should
be, it is never too soon to avoid it ever being too late to accept Christ into
your heart.
