When Your Ship Runs Aground

A captain and his crew were sailing out in the Pacific Ocean when a storm violently carried the small craft into a dangerous area toward a small island, and the ship was torn apart. Only the captain survived. When he was able he looked around the island where he had landed, and concluded that he was the sole resident. As the days went by, and he had healed enough from his injuries the captain began gathering everything he could find from his ship that had washed ashore. There was enough wood to build a tiny hut that provided shelter and a bit of comfort on the cool nights.

The lonely captain spent his days fishing and searching for enough  food to keep him alive. Being a man of faith he prayed every day asking God to rescue him from his terrible delima. He thanked God for his food and for his hut which he knew had saved his life many times. Early one windy morning after he had built a fire, and prepared his breakfast, he began his search for his daily needs. As the captain walked along the shore he smelled smoke. Then he saw that the smoke was coming from his camp site. Apparently a spark from his fire had blown into his hut setting it ablaze. He tried to extinguish the fire, but the flames were too involved to save the hut.

In anger the captain lifted his fists toward heaven and cried out, “God how could you allow this to happen? You have destroyed the only thing I had.”  He then walked back down to the shore where he wallowed in his despair and self pity. He was ready to give up. He was all alone. He had nothing. God had let him down. Suddenly as he gazed out into that vast ocean he saw something in the distance. Continuing to watch, he realized that there was a ship coming closer and closer. Immediately he began jumping up and down yelling in hopes that he would get the attention of those on the ship. His jumping and shouting was not what got his rescuers attention. The smoke from the captains burning hut was what got their attention and was surely what saved him.

God does work in mysterious ways. Our path through life often brings us pain, disappointment and even unfortunate experiences that might cause us to shake out fists at God and ask,“Why, God, Why?” There may not always be a ship in the distance coming to our rescue in our times of despair, but if our faith is in Jesus Christ we have the assurance of knowing that ultimately he is our salvation, and our hope and he will never let us down. Jesus will never leave us, and he will rescue us someday from this wicked world taking us to heaven where we will live with him forever.