858 Sailing with Jesus

Why do you do what you do? Are you happy with the life you’re living? This is a great big world created by a great big God, have you found your place in it to do something only you can do? What is this story you’re telling with your life? Each year is a chapter, each day a new sentence. Have you forgotten the thrill of being excited about what the next sentence could be and the satisfaction of savoring the chapter you’re in? My favorite book is called “A Million Miles In a Thousand Years” by Donald Miller. Since reading this book for the first time nearly 10 years ago, I now look at God’s creation of the mountains and the oceans, the sunsets and the thunderstorms, and I see his invitation to me to come create with him. He created all of this, placed you right in the middle of it with the ability to go and do and be, along with the deep desires and great passions, and says “here, come create with me.” Every day is your invitation to live a better story. God is the master storyteller. Oh how he can weave together lives and events and orchestrate divine appointments like no others. Oh how he can take something so bad and use it for such good. There are no limits to his reach or his capabilities. And remember, he created you in his image. As a follower of Christ, you have his spirit living within you. You think you’re powerless? You think you’re just along for the ride? You show up for life as some kind of puppet being pulled one way and pushed another? No girl. You have power dwelling inside of you. You have a continual invitation to live your story. Yesterday I took 15 women on a sailboat in Key West. There we met a mate on the boat named Isaac. I want to tell you about Isaac. First, you should know, this 27 year old young man with a great smile and bright blue eyes looked like Jesus. He also looked a little like Fabio with his long hair, but mostly I thought he looked like Jesus. He shared his story with us. Straight out of high school he began his 8 year journey of hitchhiking across the country. That journey eventually brought him to his first boat where he discovered his love of sailing and planted the seed of his dream. He plays guitar, has a gentle servants heart, sails like a master, and remember, he looks like Jesus. I told him he should put on a robe and tell the stories of Jesus out on the water on his boat, play a little guitar, break some bread, share some wine, and he would have one heck of a powerful sailing charter! I would sign up and bring all my BIG Life girls! During our conversations with the boat’s mate that looked like Jesus, he shared something his mom told him before he left home. She said “Son, if you’re not going to write a book, at least live a story worth writing about.” WOAH … live a story worth writing about. Are you? We read in the bible about Moses who used a staff and parted the Red Sea to save the Israelites, we read about Joshua who led an Army to march around the walls of Jericho 7 times until the walls fell, we read about Peter praising God in a prison cell until the chains broke, we read about Daniel entering the lions den and leaving without a scratch, we read about Shadrach, Meshach and Abendnego enduring the fiery furnace and coming out without even a hint of smoke. We also read about people who screwed up and have stories of great redemption. Noah in the belly of a whale, the woman at the well who had been married 5 times, Saul who led the war on all Christians becoming a crusader for Christ called Paul. These are stories worth writing about. Stories we read and are impacted by still today. Now we have our chance. We have been placed here in this world to live our story. Will it be a story of adventure? A story of redemption? A story of love? A story of impact? A story of building, creating, growing, exploring?