The S.S. Colorado
As many of you who follow my blog know, my husband and I embarked on an adventure about two and half months ago: Houston. We moved down here without family, friends, a job, etc.
Why? Because we believed God was calling us to do so.
I’ve likened it to walking on the waves with Him. Or, in less spiritual terms, scary as all get out!
Here we are, ten weeks later without a job, without any idea where God is leading us, or why we are here.
But boy have we been learning a lot! On faith, on praising Him in the storm, on idols, on faith… you get the picture.
But like all good lessons, these come with occasional surprise quizzes. Like the one we got last night when we found out that we might have to spend $300 to get CPA reciprocity for Texas.
When I heard that, my first thought was “The CPA license is perfectly good in Colorado… Get in the car, we’re going back!”
But Jesus isn’t in Colorado. Not for us, anyway. Let me explain…
I’ve been thinking a lot about Peter lately, and the faith it took for him to step out of that boat in the middle of a storm. But in my most recent reading of the account, I looked at it a little differently. There was Peter, seven or so hours into a struggle in which the only thing standing between him and a watery grave were a few planks of wood. But when he sees Jesus on the waves, he doesn’t say “Lord, save us!” “Jesus, calm the storm!” or even “Quick, get in the boat and help!”
He says, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.”
It’s like he realized suddenly that Jesus wasn’t in the boat, so he didn’t want to be in the boat either. Human reason states quite emphatically that during a storm, it’s safer in a boat than in the water. But not if Jesus isn’t in the boat.
Colorado is my boat. But Jesus is on the waves. How can I not go out to Him? How can I stay anywhere without Him? I want need to be where He is.
And it’s safer on the waves with Him than in the boat without Him.
Just like it was safer for Daniel in the lion’s den than it was in the king’s court.
And safer for Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the furnace than in the field before the idol.
It’s safer for us in Texas than in Colorado.
I’d like to tell you that I understood this right away and passed last night’s test with flying colors, but, alas, I went for a short swim. However, unlike times past, all that I’ve been learning came rushing back to me and I was able to remember to ask Jesus to pull me back up before I started a self-guided swimming lesson.
So I learned what I could, thanked God for His grace and the improvement I see in my heart, and resumed my walk with Jesus.
There is still no land in sight, but I have an anchor for my soul and it is well.
