CWW Week 14 - Day 4 - Courage
|
Scripture:
Isaiah 41:10 from the New King James Version (NKJV):
“Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.”
Have you ever been in a position where you thought you were going to die? There was no way that you would ever survive and that your life was flashing before you like a movie?
Do you remember that feeling you had when you realised you had survived? If only we could feel that way all the time, but the truth is we can if we have faith in God.
Perhaps you were in the middle of an evolving car accident or caught in a bush fire. I have had several close to death incidents, not only in my early career as a crop dusting pilot but also as an avid fisherman facing wild seas that I should never had ventured into. There has been a couple of car accidents and a few severe electrical storms when I was flying light aircraft on charter flights.
But the one that resinates, that has stayed with me, was a time when I had ventured into a wild surf as a novice surf ski paddler. With my eldest daughter who was about twelve at the time, we drove to our surf club to look at the huge cyclonic surf that had closed all the beaches. Waves in excess of five meters were pounding the beaches and out amongst them were a few fool hardy surf boarders who had braved the sea for the waves of a lifetime.
I stood there amazed and a yearning came over me. A foolish notion that all I had to do was paddle through the break and catch the wave that dreams were made of. My ego had just written a cheque that my ability was not able to cash. I was committed by my own stupidity. So I unstrapped the ski from my car and as my daughter, who had more sense than I did, urged me to reconsider, I took to the sea. What an idiot. After five attempts to break out through the shore break I made it. I had no sooner gotten to a good starting point when a monster swell picked me up and I was racing almost vertically down the face of this mighty wave. Unable to control the ski I was driven nose first into the sandy bottom with all the air punched out of me. I hung on for my life to the paddle knowing that the bungie cord connecting the paddle to the ski was my only chance at survival. The bungie cord snapped.
I let go of the now useless paddle and pulled myself to the surface only to gasp one short breath before being driven into the sandy bottom again. After three of these struggles to get air and being pummelled again and again, I was raising may hand for help but it was not seen as the waves were to big.
As I grappled my last breath I could see my daughter frantically running up the beach to get help. I knew it was hopeless and I knew I was about to drown. Then as I rolled up in the surf I felt sand under my feet. I was now in shallower water and I launched my self up for one more huge breath of life and a massive waved carried me up the beach like a stranded whale.
As I rolled on my back exhausted but alive, every breath was deep and sweet. I looked at the sky like I was trapped in a moment of shear bliss. As I gazed skyward a lone seagull was holding station into the wind about twenty feet above me. I remember hoping that he didn’t defecate at that moment as my mouth was wide open gasping for life giving air.
My daughter arrived in shock and tears and after regaining our composure we collected my kit, now washed up on the beach and skulked home pretending nothing had happened.
I look back on all these crazy misadventures and join the dots. Jesus was with me all the time even though I denied and mocked Him in my disbelief. I had just added another completed lesson to my repertoire of stupid ventures and He was with me even in my denial.
That’s how God works. We must face our denial and step into God’s amazing grace with confidence and with His strength. When we do that we can enjoy the ride of a lifetime. He will always provide what we need and not always what we want. In faith, God’s bungie cord never breaks because we know that what ever happens, that something so much better awaits us. He never breaks His promises and when He promises eternal life to all who believe in Him and stick to His life principles then what is there to fear? Not even death itself has a hold on us.
Faith truly can move mountains and that should be our foundation as we face the chasms and oceans that lay in our path to eternal life in Christ Jesus.
Questions.
- Are you in denial of a hurt, hang-up or habit that is holding you back?
- Are you due for some sweet relief from the drudgery of fear and self doubt?
- Are you now prepared to let go and let God?
Prayer.
Dear Lord, Papa God.
Help me to let go of the fear that binds me. Help me Lord to face the demons of life in the confidence that only you can give me. Help me to sleep well knowing that you are there to comfort and protect me; and help me to put my faith in Jesus when the sea billows roll. For what ever my lot, thou hast taught me to say; it is well, it is well with my soul. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.
Graham Hood.
