Anchor's Away

Wow... sorry I have been gone so long. Summer is in full swing around our house, end-of-year parties are over and the "summer games" have begun. The children are at camp this week with my parents. Every year they have all the grandchildren for a week of memory making. It is really cool -- the kids just love Poppie's Summer Camp.

I have just returned from a trip with one of my best friends, Tracy. We went to a Beth Moore conference. For those of you who do not know Beth, she is a Christian Bible teacher. Tracy and I had purchased our tickets last October. When you register for one of Beth's conferences, you don't know the topic that Beth will speak on until the day of the conference. Once again, I was floored at how the Lord knew exactly what both Tracy and I needed to hear. Beth's message was on the Perfect Storm.

In a nutshell, she tied her lesson to Acts 27:13. Paul is on his way to meet with Cesar. He had been arressted and was jailed and part of Roman law, included that he could meet with Ceasar. Paul knew the request would most likely result in his death. However Paul knew Rome was the epicenter of the world at the time, and he needed to deliver the message of Jesus Christ to reach as many non-believers as possible. And Rome was the place to do it! On his journey by ship, he and his captors encounterd a terrible storm.

In her teaching, Beth recounted Paul’s actions, and ultimately discussed what we all must do when we encounter the storms of life.

One of the most profound things she mentioned was cutting ropes, letting go of things that will keep us ensnared during storms. For Paul it was one of the anchors keeping them from crashing into the rocky coastline, but also preventing him from reaching his destination and achieving his goal. For us it can be people, or relationships, that prevent us from reaching our full potential. I am closely evaluating myself and my relationships, making sure nothing is keeping me from reaching the safe harbor that awaits me.