Got Boats?

Chaplain Bill Wolfe

Llano County Sheriff’s Department

Hello, and welcome once again to the Chaplain’s Corner.  It keeps trying to be Spring here in the Highland Lakes area…highs go from the 40s to 70s to 50s then back to 70s; gives some of us Spring Fever and others Cedar Fever. 

Won’t be too long and we’ll have eagles hatching east of town and bluebonnets popping and I’ll start hearing people talking about the Stripers running (to which some wiseguy will respond that Stripers can’t run ’cause fish don’t have feet.  And note: there is only 1 “p” there…don’t want to confuse the folks in Vice. J Stripers being striped bass.)  Game Wardens and fishermen alike will start getting boats ready.  Some guys are already dreaming about their new bass boats. 

But, actually, that’s not what gave me the idea for this month’s title.  The thoughts that I wanted to share began with the opening of this morning’s sermon.  <ahem> If you have your Bibles with you, turn with me to the Old Testament Book of Exodus…Chapter 14.  Did that sound stuffy enough? J  No, those aren’t the words that got me started thinking, but rather the events of Exodus Chapter 14.  The Book of Exodus documents the deliverance of the nation of Israel out of Egyptian bondage.  Chapter 14 describes what happens when they get to the shores of the Red Sea.  Let me quickly recap…Pharaoh had allowed Israel to leave and after their departure changed his mind and pursued them with his army.  The Israelites have traveled until they’ve reached camp on the shores of the Red Sea.  Now, suddenly the “thrill of victory” has changed to the “panic of pursuit.”  They have the Egyptian army behind and the Sea before them and no place to go.  Got boats?  Nope, nary a one.

In my mind, this quickly became a picture of how events in our lives sometimes seem to turn against us.  Lots of things seem to pursue us, different things at different times; different things for different people.  But we can all find ourselves, figuratively speaking, having run up to the beach and now no place to go.  The “enemy” is behind; water’s too deep to wade and shore’s too far to see, let alone reach by swimming.  Got boats?  We run here and there looking for a “boat,” only to find that when we think we’ve found one, someone’s fired a shotgun blast through the bottom and there goes our hope again.  Not a fun place to be.  I’m sure I’m not the only one who’s been there recently.

The good news is that God is still on the job.  When we stop looking in all the wrong places, we’ll find that He has a way.  More likely than not, His way isn’t the obvious way.  Who among the Israelites would have even remotely considered that they would cross over the seabed?  When Moses stood before the Israelites and commanded them to “stand and see the deliverance of the Lord,” I don’t know if he even knew yet how God was going to do it.  God didn’t need boats to get the Israelites to the far shore.  He doesn’t need the “boats” that we run around so desperately seeking.  What He needed was for His people to trust Him.  Easier said than done for some reason, but it is when we trust Him to make the way that we find Him making it.  And, as we cross the “seabed” we find ourselves saying, “I can’t believe this is happening.”

Let me end our time here with two things…first -- the words of a simple chorus we sing at church.  “Got any rivers you think are uncrossable? Got any mountains you can’t tunnel through?  God specializes in things thought impossible, and He can do what no other pow’r can do.”

Finally, let me quickly relate something that happened the other night…would have been about 0200 hours 22 January.  It wasn’t quite a dream, but I don’t know that it was a “vision” either.  I’m not sure if I was partially awake or fully asleep, but I “saw” two officers in a unit (I was behind the driver).  I could tell by the pinkish-colored light from the street light that it was an urban setting and they were making a left turn and about to enter a high tension/high risk situation.  I have no idea of who the officers were or where.  I thought that the one in the passenger’s seat was a female.  I woke enough to start praying for them and asking God to protect them.  If you think that was you and your partner, would you email me and let me know what it was all about and how it turned out?

Gotta run…I’m making us late.  Blessings to you and yours.

Chaplain Bill

chappy@chaplainscorner.org