Boats fascinate me!

Talk to any boat owner and they will tell you there are two great days in the life of owning a boat…
     The day you buy it…
         And…
               The day you sell it!!

I am not a boat owner but I have friends who have chosen this precipitous path in life. 

Sail boats and Row boats are foremost on my mind today. 

There seems to be a fundamental difference between the two.
Sail boats are completely dependent on the wind to propel them forward to their appointed destination.
Row boats, on the other hand, are completely dependent on the strength of the person pulling the oars to propel them forward to their appointed destination (while facing backwards I might add!!).

If there is no wind, sail boats are “dead in the water.”
If there is no wind, row boats are NOT “dead in the water.”
They can go wherever the rower wants it to go. 

I believe this illustration of sail boats and row boats and their respective dependency on different modes of power is profound.

As you live your life, are you a Sail Boat or a Row Boat?
Or a little of both?

Do you “sail” your life by the “wind” of the Holy Spirit?
Or…
Do you “row” your life by the power of You?

Perhaps you have a little 50 horsepower Evinrude outboard engine on board your sail boat, just in case you find yourself allegedly “dead in the water” and God needs a little help moving your boat along.
Or..
Perhaps you have an extra sail available on your row boat, just in case you find yourself getting tired of rowing all by yourself. 

I received a wonderful card from a friend of mine who is out exploring the world with his wife. He wrote the following:
   “I hope to see you soon. But you know us, we go wherever the wind blows us…”

Who knows when I will see my friends, but this much is true. 
They will spend as much time traveling (sailing) as long as the “wind” (God) is blowing them in that direction.
When God decides to blow them home, that is when I will see them again. 

There are many times I find myself rowing up a storm, so much so the “wind” is actually against me. 
I row myself ragged trying to make headway in life.

There are also many times I find myself holding on for dear life at the sheer joy and adventure of witnessing the wind of the Holy Spirit fill my sail and skip my sail boat across the water of life with heart thumping, hair blowing, shirt flapping velocity. 

Which do you prefer?
Rowing or Sailing?

The challenge for me is to leave the oars behind on the dock.
How about you?

Laugh Often and Fear Not
David!

 “So don’t be so surprised when I tell you that you have to be ‘born from above’—out of this world, so to speak. You know well enough how the wind blows this way and that. You hear it rustling through the trees, but you have no idea where it comes from or where it’s headed next. That’s the way it is with everyone ‘born from above’ by the wind of God, the Spirit of God.” (John 3: 7-8 The Message)