Have you ever been on a sinking boat or ship?
I suppose the closest I have ever came was being on a “tossing raft.”
I remember the occasion well. I had taken a church group on a white-water rafting trip. Soon we had paired off to our assigned raft and were ready to push off. However, our tour guide was very insistent that we all had on a life jacket. (I soon discovered why!)
It didn’t take long to realize why the life jacket was such an issue. About halfway through the trip we hit one of the “big ones” (rapids) and you guessed it, I soon found myself with a paddle but no raft!
Being plunged into a mountain stream is no fun. But it is nothing like being on a sinking ship. With a little help from my friends I was able to crawl back into the raft, but on a sinking ship the only option is to hope for rescue or a distant shore to swim to.
Life is full of dangerous rapids that could sink your ship.
I’m not telling you to not go down those rapids, but I would caution you to ask, “Is this worth sinking the ship over?”
Instead of using the word “ship” when asking this questions, insert words like marriage, health, reputation, career, your retirement fund, a friendship, your eternal destiny.
O there are life jacket words like divorce settlement, medical treatment, relocation, bankruptcy, deathbed conversion, but they are a poor substitute for “the ship” and the collateral damage can last for generations.
The ONE THING for today: Life is not meant to be lived timidly or even safely, but it is also not meant to be lived foolishly. The wise person counts the cost be picking up the paddle and taking the plunge.
The ONE THING 