Get in the Boat
Bob Russell is a breath of wisdom. Recentlyhe has been a guest speaker at my men’s bible study from time to time. Among other topics, he truly challenges men to grow and become the men God created us to be. At one of our first meetings with him, he shared the following fictional story that I now share with you as a prompt.
. . .
Imagineyou wake up in a hotel on the coast of California. Somewhere near San Diego (although that’s really not all that relevant). You don’t know how you got there, or really where you are. You see a note and it tasks you with going out to the beach and bring nothing but yourself, because you won’t need anything else.
So, you walk out to the beach. On your journey out of the hotel, you notice there are others walking toward the beach. All of you have a confused look on your face. You hope the person next to you will know what is going on, but none of you have the audacity to ask what is going on. So you nod and give a half smile to hide your own confusion and nerves. As your walk continues, you notice there aren't just a few other people, there are thousands upon thousands of men and women venturing their way to the water. Not a single person walking with the confidence that they know what is going on.
As you approach the beach, the line begins to form of people herding themselves to the water's edge, waiting anxiously for the spectacle that is happening. You turn around for the first time on this walk, and realize that the beach has grown in size, to the point in which you can’t even see the hotel where you came from. Your confusion and the confusion of the people around you grows. And then, over a set of loudspeakers saying that all of this will be explained to you. That there is understanding of confusion and anxiousness. Then there is a pause, and the voice simply states, just swim to Hawaii and all will be made clear…
Just swim to Hawaii, you laugh inside nervously, certainly that can’t be real, that isn’t the solution to this mystery, and yet, it is. You look back one more time and all you see behind you is people marching forward, you strain for glimpses of the hotel where you came from, and there is nothing, not even a building in site, the sand has grown to the size of the city itself, and you are now being spun around as people start their trek into the ocean.
How can this be serious? How is this really what we are being asked to do? What is the point of all of this? These questions race through your head as you feel your feet leading you into the powerful waves of the cool Pacific. You swim and swim, for what seems like hours, people start to separate themselves, some going fast, some going slow, some alone, some in teams, some just floating and letting the ocean dictate their course, others straining to fight the waves and keep their head above the water. Days turn into nights and nights into weeks. You are cold, wet, and still filled with the same confusion that you were when you woke up in the hotel back in San Diego.
As you continue to wonder how on earth you will manage to make it to Hawaii you see in the distance, a vessel. Slowly it creeps along the horizon, and comes into full view, you see that not only is it a ship, but it is a cruise ship, you scream and flap your arms, praying that someone on that ship sees you and brings you aboard.
When hope seems dashed, the captain himself throws down a life ring to you, and ushers
you aboard, telling you that he can take you as far as the ship is going, which just so happens to be Hawaii. It was at this point that Pastor Russell concluded his story. Wrapping it up to move on with the rest of the sermon. Focusing that we are tasked with action, even when it doesn’t make sense, we have to trust that God is going to meet us somewhere along the journey.
The imagery of that story was still haunting to write. How many of us have woken up, not known how we got to where we were, what we were doing or why we were doing it? We look around and everyone seems to be doing the same thing, and yet nobody has an answer. Many times, people don’t even question what is going on. And yet before we know it, we are in the ocean, floating, swimming, going alone or with a group, but are we going in the right direction, are we really making any progress? And ultimately, why are we here?
Although not everyone feels that the call they feel to start the swim is from a divine call to action, we all still want to know what we are doing, why are we doing it? I skip back to the story, as I sat back and listened to Pastor Russell continue his sermon, I was pleased that he left the story open ended. While he was talking, he left the rest of the metaphor for our own imagination, or maybe not, but my mind couldn’t step away from it. What if that first initial plunge into the icy unknown was our first Leap, what if we look back and think that just stepping up to the plate was all that had to be done. But that can’t be, not in this metaphor, all that work and confusion just to get on a cruise ship and happily sail away to the destination. Rather, the same captain that rescued you from the waves, now approaches you, to be on the lookout for land, or maybe other people floating along.
Maybe you got about a week to get your legs underneath you before you were asked to help out. Maybe you looked around and some people around you looked like they had been pulled from the water too and they are getting a better room, or food, than you, or they got picked up earlier. Maybe you were told you were going to have to help out around the ship when you got pulled up and so for a few days you’ve been ranking jobs, sure I’ll work on the crew of the engine, or I’ll help serving food, but no way I will go around collecting the trash, or cleaning the rooms, surely someone else will be asked to do that.
The captain comes to you, asking you to please help with the trash, that’s actually why you were brought aboard. The last thing that you wanted to do, first you got a smaller bed, and now this, how is this fair? That’s not at all what you thought this ship had for you. Heck you only even got on board because they said they were going to Hawaii too…
How quickly we forget about the fading skyline when we drift from shore to the water. How quickly do we forget the urge to move forward when that's all there seemed to be? That first Leap was one of instinct, the next was to get aboard the ship, you honestly didn’t even care where it was going! How quickly though, we get comfortable with where we are, what we are doing, even if we don’t know why. And how quickly do we turn our noses up on something that is going to take us out of our comfort zone. Something that isn’t exactly what we thought we should be doing.
The beautiful thing about what Russell described was that we could all feel the anxiety of the picture he painted. What about once you’re on the ship? What is next? What is our purpose there, what is our platform there? What if we are called by the captain to a platform we didn’t think we wanted?
As I write this I too, have, and continue to ask these same questions. Why have I gotten to this point, but I don’t get what someone else has? Why has someone been brought on board and they get to be the first mate, and I have to take out the trash?
This isn’t the platform that I wanted… In the end, the story is about the start, and the finish, and who you positively impacted on the way. Our task was to make it to Hawaii, not how we would get there. We were graced enough to get on the cruise ship and make our destination. I think in our modern life, we get so caught up in what we are doing on our journey, and lose sight, or appreciation, for the vessel in which we get to go on this great expedition we call life.
As you read this book, know that we are on a journey together. You and me. This is the great journey we call life, that we get to do together. As we grow with each other, I want you to see that these Leaps of faith are not about us, they’re not about us championing our accomplishments. Rather, they are about filling our cups, about realizing that this great journey we are on isn’t about us, it is about trusting the Captain. About that at any moment when He asks something of you, you find the courage to accept. To find the faith to trust that He has your best interest. After all, He pulled you out of the depths of the sea. Like Jonah, and Moses, like Peter as well, we are all lost at sea. And He has pulled us all out, all on board, for a specific task. At this point you’re on board, at least for this book, let's fill our cups, wring out our beach towels and get ready to jump at whatever has been tasked in front of us.
