There is this man. His name is Grace. He’s approaching my boat every morning asking if he can come along for the ride to which I usually tell him there’s no room. “Sorry there’s only room for one on this boat.” You see MY boat is MINE. I built it MYSELF. I spent hours gathering the materials and designing it. I put the accommodations for what I wanted: a one seater with a couple paddles and a fishing net. Simple. Why would I share this? Who is this man that can interrupt MY life and take control of MY boat? I want to go where I want to go. I want to see what I want to see. I want to do what I want to do.
That was until Grace intervened. I’ll never forget, I was docking my boat after a disappointing day of fishing. That’s when I saw Grace come down the hill towards the lake, but this time there were hundreds of people following him. He said “Jacob, let me on your boat, I want to teach these people.” I don’t know why, but I agreed to do this. I set him into the waters and he taught the people, and then at the end he said “Jacob, put your net into the water, we’re going fishing.”
Everything inside of me said no. First off, I had just cleaned my nets. I didn’t catch any fish earlier, why would I catch any fish now? And who does this man think he is? He’s no fisherman, why does he think this is a good time and place to fish? But there was something about the look in His eyes that convinced me. A look that said, “you can trust me. I won’t let you down.” A look that bread so much confidence that I reluctantly agreed and I pulled the net into the water and immediately thousands of fish exploded into my net, to the point where the net was ripping and our boat was sinking.
I was in complete shock and utter disbelief of what I saw. Who is this man in my boat? I am so undeserving to be in the same boat as him. And in that moment, the only thing I could do was fall at the feet of Him and say “I am unworthy to be in the same boat as you, please leave me.” But Grace lifted my chin, He picked me up off the ground and said “I love you so much. I will always remain in this boat with you.”
Now every morning this man approaches my boat and I let him on. You see everything changes once he’s on my boat: the confidence I have, the joy he gives me, the hope I get to carry. MY boat is NO longer MINE. It’s a boat for two. Now I only want to go where HE wants to go. I only want to see what HE wants to see. I only want to do what HE wants to do. I am now the luckiest man alive: I get to go on an adventure with this man everyday. I might encounter some deep waters. I might get caught in the middle of a sea storm. But I do not fear because He who is Grace, who is Love, who is Mercy, who is my Protector, who is my Shelter is in my boat WITH me.
I am currently on a path where I don’t really know where my boat is going. The future holds a lot of unknowns and uncertainties. But I am not in my own boat, I am in a boat for two. And my savior, my king, my friend, Jesus, is in the boat with me. So I don’t go through the uncharted waters in fear. I stand firm, knowing that He is the one steering the ship.
