Yesterday the sneaker-clad hubby and I invested in a tandem kayak. We have been dreaming and scheming about this purchase for at least the last year, and we finally had the funds and found the one we wanted (used, of course) at the same time! We had to drive about 90 miles to get it, and then go to three different stores before we found affordable paddles for both of us in the right sizes, but it was mine!
Elated about my long awaited toy I all but begged hubby to take me out on the lake 1/2 a mile from our place the instant we got home. It was more than an instant, but before long we had dressed in swimwear and walked down the boat dock, kayak in hand, into the water.
Water is my happy place. Oceans, lakes, rivers, streams, even rain. I want to be in them, on them, beside them - I'm not picky. I love the look of water, the feel of water, the smell of water. Just being near water makes my stress and worry melt away. Water is where I go to retreat.
When I was in Albania and days got really stressful, I would spend my afternoons walking along the coast, breathing in the salt-soaked seabreeze.
After a long day at work I love to ride my bike to the lake by our house, bury my feet in the mud and read a good book. Everything is right by the water, and what isn't right is promptly forgotten.
I told hubby yesterday as we floated in the middle of the lake and watched the sunset - my paddle in my lap, my leg hung over the edge, feet immersed in water - that i wouldn't mind if we sat here forever (or at least a day or two). Why go home to be greeted by piles of laundry and a sink full of dishes? Why get up and go to work in the morning? Just to come home, make dinner, clean up and do it all over again? All is vanity and striving after wind. This is bliss.
I love the water because I have this one perfect view of it. MY water is calm and cool, it let's me swim in it's depths, or float on it's surface. It carries me where I want to go, but only as quickly or as slowly as I choose to paddle. In MY water, I am in control. It is merely there to be enjoyable.
But there is a whole other side of water that I have never even seen. It is the water that falls so hard homes are devastated by flood. It is the water of hurricanes, that sweeps planes off the asphalt. It is the water of giant waves that buries unsuspecting surfers and swimming children. The water that makes seasoned fisherman quake with fear and call out to any God that will hear them. I have no experience with this water. I hope I never will. I want water on my terms.
My relationship with Christ has been much like this lately. I yearn to be near the God of peace, to be wrapped in His embrace, sheltered under His loving wings. I want a God of rainbows and butterflies. A God that grants me the desires of my heart, that showers me with love and affection, and holds me when I am hurting. I want a God that takes away my stress, a God that will let me float along forever and forget my responsibilities. But I want God on my terms. I want to come to Him when it suits my schedule. I want to reap all the benefits of His love, but make none of the sacrifices. I want an easy Christianity. Where I only have to paddle as fast as I feel like, and i can let the gentle current do most of the work for me. I want to be able To climb in and out as I see fit.
But God is not always a gentle current. God, also, has another side that I am wholly unfamiliar with. Yes, my God is a loving and merciful father. He is also a jealous and just king. The same God who saved the disciples from the storm is the God who sent a flood to destroy all but six of the human population. The God who shut the months of the lions around Daniel is the same God who struck dead Ananias and Sapphira.
The God we serve is so great and so powerful, we cannot expect to be able to choose when and how He gets our service. We cannot expect the saving Grace and the loving kindness unless we are willing to carry our cross for Him. We cannot expect that life will just be easy sailing. We are commanded to leave all we have and follow Him. His righteousness. DEMANDS absolute obedience. There is no halfway. There is no easy Jesus.
Elated about my long awaited toy I all but begged hubby to take me out on the lake 1/2 a mile from our place the instant we got home. It was more than an instant, but before long we had dressed in swimwear and walked down the boat dock, kayak in hand, into the water.
Water is my happy place. Oceans, lakes, rivers, streams, even rain. I want to be in them, on them, beside them - I'm not picky. I love the look of water, the feel of water, the smell of water. Just being near water makes my stress and worry melt away. Water is where I go to retreat.
When I was in Albania and days got really stressful, I would spend my afternoons walking along the coast, breathing in the salt-soaked seabreeze.
After a long day at work I love to ride my bike to the lake by our house, bury my feet in the mud and read a good book. Everything is right by the water, and what isn't right is promptly forgotten.
I told hubby yesterday as we floated in the middle of the lake and watched the sunset - my paddle in my lap, my leg hung over the edge, feet immersed in water - that i wouldn't mind if we sat here forever (or at least a day or two). Why go home to be greeted by piles of laundry and a sink full of dishes? Why get up and go to work in the morning? Just to come home, make dinner, clean up and do it all over again? All is vanity and striving after wind. This is bliss.
I love the water because I have this one perfect view of it. MY water is calm and cool, it let's me swim in it's depths, or float on it's surface. It carries me where I want to go, but only as quickly or as slowly as I choose to paddle. In MY water, I am in control. It is merely there to be enjoyable.
But there is a whole other side of water that I have never even seen. It is the water that falls so hard homes are devastated by flood. It is the water of hurricanes, that sweeps planes off the asphalt. It is the water of giant waves that buries unsuspecting surfers and swimming children. The water that makes seasoned fisherman quake with fear and call out to any God that will hear them. I have no experience with this water. I hope I never will. I want water on my terms.
My relationship with Christ has been much like this lately. I yearn to be near the God of peace, to be wrapped in His embrace, sheltered under His loving wings. I want a God of rainbows and butterflies. A God that grants me the desires of my heart, that showers me with love and affection, and holds me when I am hurting. I want a God that takes away my stress, a God that will let me float along forever and forget my responsibilities. But I want God on my terms. I want to come to Him when it suits my schedule. I want to reap all the benefits of His love, but make none of the sacrifices. I want an easy Christianity. Where I only have to paddle as fast as I feel like, and i can let the gentle current do most of the work for me. I want to be able To climb in and out as I see fit.
But God is not always a gentle current. God, also, has another side that I am wholly unfamiliar with. Yes, my God is a loving and merciful father. He is also a jealous and just king. The same God who saved the disciples from the storm is the God who sent a flood to destroy all but six of the human population. The God who shut the months of the lions around Daniel is the same God who struck dead Ananias and Sapphira.
The God we serve is so great and so powerful, we cannot expect to be able to choose when and how He gets our service. We cannot expect the saving Grace and the loving kindness unless we are willing to carry our cross for Him. We cannot expect that life will just be easy sailing. We are commanded to leave all we have and follow Him. His righteousness. DEMANDS absolute obedience. There is no halfway. There is no easy Jesus.
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