September 29, 2009 –
About two weeks ago I had the opportunity to go camping with good Christian friend and brother of mine. A last hurrah to end the summer for the year. His youngest son was turning 16 and as he family tradition goes each of his children has the opportunity to invite several friends on a boat camping trip. I was invited to keep Dad Company among five 16 year old boys. We had a great time. I laughed at the conversation of young men at 16, the teasing and ongoing contests. The bonding among young friends. There was lots of water skiing and wake boarding that took place. One night after a great dinner, the boys were trading horse stories around the camp fire. The two old guys under the large mosquito ten, used for our chow hall, talking. Up came a visitor from the camp next to us about 200 yards away. Out of the pitch dark walks up a guy that seemed come from nowhere. He had been talking to the boys for some time. He then walked up into the tent where my friend and I were in an intense conversation taking us by surprise. The neighbor was as drunk as a skunk. Incoherent and falling over everything and himself. He finally made it to a sitting position on the bench next to my friend. The next few minutes of conversation were interesting at best. Talking to him about the lake (he was a local), about a fire that was in the area the year before. We talked about what he was drinking and what were not drinking. Our conversation died off almost as soon as it started. Then just as he mysteriously as he appeared in our camp he was on his feet and walking off into the dark night where he came from. What happened next was sobering (no pun intended). We heard in the black darkness of the night a boat engine start up. No lights to accompany the noise of the motor. Then the engine, full throttle, then a flash of the side of a boat shot past us on the lake. The motor throttled down at what was about the distance of the first bend in the lake. After a second or two the engine, never completely shut down, raced to full throttle again. Then in the still black darkness, a flash came by us again in the opposite direction and …CRASH!!!! A boat hit the shore line directly across from us! The boat now motionless and virticle.The boat motor at an idle. Looking at each other in shock, we readied ourselves to run for the lake in need of a possible rescue. Then the boat slid down from the bank of the lake shore. Now horizontal, the engine engages again into gear and the boat idles back to the camp just 200 yards from us where it started from. Hearing yelling and conversation we knew no lives were lost tonight. Now you have to figure we have several 16 year old boys in camp with us. The whooping and hollering started as fast as the boat raced in front of us. Knowing everything was ok. The dramatic show over. The jokes and laughing start. The new stories begin. Practice of how things would be acted out in school on Monday morning. This opened up an opportunity to talk to these young Christian men about why too much drinking can lead to circumstances out or your control. Then the realization his us all when one of the boys says “Wow we could have been the last ones to talk to that guy before he died.”It hit me like a baseball bat! Life is like a minute that is here and gone the next. The words Carpe diem immediately rushed into my thoughts. Then “Be ready in season and out of season” The gospel was not shared with our guest that night, we thought he was so drunk that there would be no effect. The thought of his death was a reality check. We can’t hold the work of the Holy Spirit to our limited thoughts. He is able and willing to reach even through the effects of alcohol or drugs at any level. Just like he can through anger, bitterness and any other abuse or damaged life. He is God. Mark 4:26-29 tells of the Parable of the Growing Seed.“This is what the Kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day weather he sleeps or gets up; the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. All by itself the soil produces grain. First the stalk, then the head and then the kernel in the head. Then the grain is ripe. He puts the sickle to it, the harvest is ready.”The word of God is self sufficient. When planted, God is the one who nourishes it. He waters it. His words are life. Our Job is to plant. Not to determine when the soil is right or the conditions are right. When the opportunity is at hand, that is when the seed needs to be scattered. What we feel or think is irreverent and needs to be put in check according to God’s words. He said go and make disciples, not according to conditions or weather report. Just the instructions to GO and DO. The young boater was up very early and on his way to the boat ramp, and I’m sure home, the next morning. I am very thankful that the young boater didn’t have to go before God and answer for himself that night. I am thankful for God’s patience and longsuffering. My prayer is that the gospel will be on the lips of the next Harvest Worker that young boater comes across soon. That I will see him casting his crown at the feet of his Savior in praise before his throne.
No comments:
Post a Comment