Oh No! The boat's leaking!

People find God in the strangest situations! They travel along through life with scant regard for spiritual matters, possibly even denying that God exists at all, when all of a sudden they are pulled up by a short, sharp, shock! They find themselves in the position of needing help desperately and they suddenly remember something that they have heard in their past, even though they might never have realised that they were listening.

When faced with an impossible --- and usually life-threatening--- position, they suddenly cry out instinctively for God to help them. Of course, to the Atheist, this poses a problem in itself as they question where the cry came from. After all, if there is no God then it means that there is also no hope! For the Agnostic it's a pretty good time to fall off the fence that they've been sitting on and make certain that they fall on the right side! Their minds can be made up in an instant and then they can be free to cry out to God for help in the knowledge that He really is there to hear them when they do.

But is the right time to acknowledge God at the point when your boat is actually sinking? Surely it would be better to wise up right now and discover the message of love that brings salvation with it. In some ways the message of the Gospel might be understood as a wonderful love letter, not one which is sloppy at the edges, but one that speaks of unconditional love, salvational love and redeeming love, for God sent His only Son Jesus, the Messiah, on an errand of loving mercy. God wants everyone to return to Him; to come in from the cold; to end their time of straying.

Maybe you know someone who realises that there's a leak somewhere but believes that it's just part of the inevitable progression of life in general, and so refuses to address the situation. If they leave it indefinitely then they'll end up in a situation such as the boat is in at the top of this blog! Perhaps all they need is a gentle LOVING nudge to get them moving in the right direction, and maybe it's up to YOU to be the one chosen to do the nudging.

Jesus commanded us: 'Love one another just as I have loved you.' That means that we'll have to do a fair bit of nudging as we travel through life, but in the end it will all have been worthwhile.