The Two Seas

June 15, 2007, 10:00 am; posted by
Filed under Articles, David  | 3 Comments

“And falling into a place where two seas met, they ran the ship aground; and the forepart stuck fast, and remained unmovable, but the hinder part was broken with the violence of the waves” (Acts 27:41).

This verse from Paul’s voyage to Rome has always seemed a fitting analogy of my walk with God. I’m caught in this place where two great oceans crash and rage against each other for the mastery of my life, with one ocean representing the Kingdom of God and the other the world.

At times, certainly, I break free from the pull of worldly pursuits and go off and have great adventures in the Kingdom of God. I’m bi-vocational, so ministry comes and goes for me. I have preached in churches, jails, state parks, houses, streets, trailers, convenience stores and (in one case) a Laundromat. I’ve pastored, co-pastored, youth pastored and assistant pastored, serving as a part-time prophet, evangelist, pastor and teacher, as need has served. But when it’s over, no matter how I promise myself it won’t happen, I end up drifting back to this place where these two seas rage and batter me.

In these in-between times I fall back to secular pursuits, reading two to three newspapers a day, reading history, poetry, literature, and anything else I can find. I give into my passions for hockey, basketball, football and baseball. I write bad poetry and whiny songs and try again to master the guitar; I languish here in this place between two seas, feeling stuck and broken with the violence of the waves.

I know too much, and love Jesus way too much, to ever sail off into the world again. It has nothing for me. But I read their newspapers, I watch their movies and sporting events, and I fill my head and my heart with the trivialities and useless nuance of secular life. And I wait for the next assignment, not ever fully knowing whether I failed the last time, or if it just ran its course. And slowly, inexorably, inevitably, I drift back into this place between the two great oceans and become stuck, being broken by the violence of the waves. And all I can find to do is “cast out anchors from the stern, and wish for the day” (Acts 27:29).


Comments

3 Comments to “The Two Seas”

  1. Chase on June 15th, 2007 12:41 pm

    You know… for me it is when I stop reading and writing that I am falling back into this lashing.

  2. Mom on June 15th, 2007 9:04 pm

    Just keep your heart right and the devotional life outpacing your newspaper appetite. I have a rule that the tv remote can never sit on top of my Bible. Silly, but it shows my priorities.

    When we visited, I was always blessed by your study, and how you always made time every day to go spend time with God. Having a current assignment has no bearing upon your appoinment times with Him, or does showing up there everyday…waiting for His Word, make it more likely that He will have somewhere else for you to go share it?

  3. dsweetgoober on June 16th, 2007 12:00 pm

    Amen

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