New Year Course Correction
For The Hanford Sentinel
On days when it works, technology is wonderful. I carry in my pocket a phone that not only can place a call to anyone, anywhere in the world, but it can surf the internet, give me a list of the lunch options within a mile radius of where I stand and fill my ears with the sweet sounds of whatever music best fits my mood. My favorite feature is the GPS. If I want to know how to get from where I am to where I need to go, I have a virtual guide that leads me step by step.
It is wonderful to have such clear guidance. The GPS does all the work for me. It knows where I am at all times. I simply sit back and obey what it commands. Of course, if my battery goes dead, my life is held hostage and my location suddenly disappears from the virtual map. I am powerless before this abject electronic terrorism.
And while GPS is a wonderful tool for our daily point-to-point travels, it is of little use in the journey of life. We cannot type in our desired destination and have a nice female voice whisper in our ear, "Turn right in 300 yards." Life's journey is, at least from our perspective, not quite so precise.
Much like the captain of a ship 200 years ago, we chart a course, select a heading and venture out into the open waters of daily life. A few tools were essential for the ocean journey. For the ship's captain, these tools were a chart demonstrating the major landmarks, a leadline to evaluate the depth of the water, a magnetic compass to indicate general direction, and a sextant to determine the ship's latitude (when a clear sighting of the sun was available). Knowing exactly where you were in your journey was next to impossible, but it was also not essential. The most important thing was to be sure that you were moving in the right direction!
Our tools are different in their makeup but similar in their function. Our chart is God's Word that gives us the landmarks of life. Our leadline is our close relationships that help us know when we are in danger of running aground. Our compass is the Holy Spirit who guides us in all truth and keeps us moving in the right direction. And our sextant is the regular evaluation we must do to determine the "position" of our lives. We do so by getting our eyes on the Father and allowing Him to speak to us about where we are and where we need to go from here.
This is not an exact science, this is life. We often make the mistake of overestimating the importance of today and underestimating the importance of a month or a year. We get focused on "this moment" when we need to remember that God is working on the big picture. We anxiously worry and wonder why we can't hear God tell us what the exact next step is, when He really is more interested in the direction we are going over a long period of time.
So as we move into the new year, let me encourage you to pause for journey evaluation and course correction. Get your eyes on the Father and ask Him what He thinks about the direction of your life. Take a look at your chart and make sure that you are heading for the right landmarks and that you are not going to run aground and make a shipwreck of your life.
One of the best ways to get perspective on your life is to get in God's house and into His presence. The pastors of Kings County would love to help you chart His course in your life. Don't wait too long to do it though, because you will hit stormy waters and will need to know you are headed in the right direction!
On days when it works, technology is wonderful. I carry in my pocket a phone that not only can place a call to anyone, anywhere in the world, but it can surf the internet, give me a list of the lunch options within a mile radius of where I stand and fill my ears with the sweet sounds of whatever music best fits my mood. My favorite feature is the GPS. If I want to know how to get from where I am to where I need to go, I have a virtual guide that leads me step by step.
It is wonderful to have such clear guidance. The GPS does all the work for me. It knows where I am at all times. I simply sit back and obey what it commands. Of course, if my battery goes dead, my life is held hostage and my location suddenly disappears from the virtual map. I am powerless before this abject electronic terrorism.
And while GPS is a wonderful tool for our daily point-to-point travels, it is of little use in the journey of life. We cannot type in our desired destination and have a nice female voice whisper in our ear, "Turn right in 300 yards." Life's journey is, at least from our perspective, not quite so precise.
Much like the captain of a ship 200 years ago, we chart a course, select a heading and venture out into the open waters of daily life. A few tools were essential for the ocean journey. For the ship's captain, these tools were a chart demonstrating the major landmarks, a leadline to evaluate the depth of the water, a magnetic compass to indicate general direction, and a sextant to determine the ship's latitude (when a clear sighting of the sun was available). Knowing exactly where you were in your journey was next to impossible, but it was also not essential. The most important thing was to be sure that you were moving in the right direction!
Our tools are different in their makeup but similar in their function. Our chart is God's Word that gives us the landmarks of life. Our leadline is our close relationships that help us know when we are in danger of running aground. Our compass is the Holy Spirit who guides us in all truth and keeps us moving in the right direction. And our sextant is the regular evaluation we must do to determine the "position" of our lives. We do so by getting our eyes on the Father and allowing Him to speak to us about where we are and where we need to go from here.
This is not an exact science, this is life. We often make the mistake of overestimating the importance of today and underestimating the importance of a month or a year. We get focused on "this moment" when we need to remember that God is working on the big picture. We anxiously worry and wonder why we can't hear God tell us what the exact next step is, when He really is more interested in the direction we are going over a long period of time.
So as we move into the new year, let me encourage you to pause for journey evaluation and course correction. Get your eyes on the Father and ask Him what He thinks about the direction of your life. Take a look at your chart and make sure that you are heading for the right landmarks and that you are not going to run aground and make a shipwreck of your life.
One of the best ways to get perspective on your life is to get in God's house and into His presence. The pastors of Kings County would love to help you chart His course in your life. Don't wait too long to do it though, because you will hit stormy waters and will need to know you are headed in the right direction!
posted by Andrew Cromwell at
10:09 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home