Today we went sailing, that is nothing remarkable or unusual, we try to go once a week in season, and have certainly mostly managed that since we moved in August. Today however we were the only ones at the club, it was very cold and although it wasn't too windy it certainly wasn't calm, we weighed up the risks ( well Tim did and I trust him) and decided to go. We rigged up the boat and changed into sailing gear and set off....
My biggest challenge was stepping into the boat, as we were preparing to set of some pretty stiff gusts came through, I thought twice, but Tim was confident all would be well, so after some hesitation I stepped into the boat and away we went. We had a blast, the best sailing we have had for weeks because the winds have been so light...
I did think twice though, and it would have been easy to hesitate and step back. I am glad I didn't! As I ponder this in the light of the last week where I have had to make some decisions that run contrary to my first inclinations, decisions whose outcomes I have no control over I am encouraged. Encouraged and reminded of stories and testimonies of faith that I have heard, people who have stood on the edge of a decision and dared to take the plunge into what seemed like difficult and risky situations and found that God was right there with them, not necessarily making things easy, but certainly making things possible.
Life is rarely easy, and we often have difficult decisions to make, sometimes the easiest but worst decision is to step back and play it safe. I am reminded of Peter stepping out of the boat (rather than in to it) to walk across the waves to Jesus who was calling him, and reminded that it just when he thought he was going to sink that he cried out to be saved and was saved. I am reminded that we all have different levels of confidence at different parts of our journey, that we all hit barriers where we say to ourselves "I can't do this", and yet somehow we find the inner God given resources to push beyond our comfort zones, to step out of or into the boat and to go for it! We may be able to know how things are going to work out, but just sometimes the risk is worth taking, and while this is something I already knew, I also needed reminding!
31-39 So, what do you think? With God on our side like this, how can we lose? If God didn’t hesitate to put everything on the line for us, embracing our condition and exposing himself to the worst by sending his own Son, is there anything else he wouldn’t gladly and freely do for us? And who would dare tangle with God by messing with one of God’s chosen? Who would dare even to point a finger? The One who died for us—who was raised to life for us!—is in the presence of God at this very moment sticking up for us. Do you think anyone is going to be able to drive a wedge between us and Christ’s love for us? There is no way! Not trouble, not hard times, not hatred, not hunger, not homelessness, not bullying threats, not backstabbing, not even the worst sins listed in Scripture:
They kill us in cold blood because they hate you.
We’re sitting ducks; they pick us off one by one.
None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us. I’m absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God’s love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us.
