9.16-Make sure everyone in your boat is rowing and not drilling holes when you're not looking.

9.16-

Make sure everyone in your boat is rowing and not drilling holes when you're not looking.

I wish I had been able to simplify and notice things like this when I was younger.   When I was 16 there were many people in my circle of friends who were willing to help me move forward and were rowing with me.  I cannot tell you of any until I was older who were secretly drilling holes into the boat.  Some of my high school friends were extremely mature and knew what they wanted and how to get there.  Most were like me, but just didn’t know where they wanted to go or how to get there.

At the age of 16 I was taught that people around me were the good guys and people at the other schools were the opponents.  The bad guys.  We played football and basketball and within our district were the Celeste Blue Devils, The Wolf City Wolves, the Honey Grove Warriors, the Leonard Tigers so in my simple minded ways of thought my team and school were all good guys and the opponents were the bad guys.  That is fairly normal life for a 16 year old. 

As I got older I came to see some people in my own school who were sabbatoging their own best efforts in life. 

They didn’t really try hard in school.  They were there sometime and sometimes not.

They we using illegal substances.

They were not well cared for by their families.  Some of them came from families where they didn’t have enough money to really watch out for the students.  They were having to raise themselves at a young age.

For a good while in life I had no idea where I wanted my boat to go.  I was not rowing anywhere so there was not much of an application of today’s proverb.

When I finally got into a direction for my life at about age 26, I was interested in encouraging and building up people to be the best they could be.  I was trying also to go with my best self each day also. 

There are hard things that come into our lives.  Some of these are things that we had nothing to do with.

The Father in heaven can be seen as beautiful and powerful by how people react to their situation in life.  Some will look at your hard things and jump on the pile and make you look even worse by isolating themselves from you.  Some will remain silent and pray for wisdom as to how to help you without making things worse.  Others may be able to listen and ask questions that will help you to go into your heart and conscience for the best answers from within Spirit of God inside of you.

I started to notice who was rowing with me and started to spend more time with them to encourage and empower them.  Those who were secretly drilling holes in my boat I decided to leave them and get into another boat.

The religious keepers are focused more on judging and condemning others rather than having compassion and helping them to recover.

We need to look around at the people who are rowing with us and thank them personally and publically.  When Jesus healed a man the religious bigots spent time criticizing Jesus for having compassion to heal and help this man on the Sabbath against their own interpretation of God’s law.  They were focused on catching people doing things wrong rather than being focused on healing and helping people.

God is a God of compassion and grace.  God is love.  Those who know Him are lovers of people.  Those who are more interested in win/loss living will be trying to operate secretly and behind your back they will be drilling holes in your boat.  They are divisive.   They have drifted from the love and innocence of their childhood into their own selfish pleasure where “we” are the good guys and “they” are the bad guys.

Think about who has opened your eyes to the truth of life.  These have been honest with you and corrected you and helped you to get back on track on life.  These have not given up on your, but have expected and demanded the best from you.

If you are a follower of Jesus there will be some insults that will come your way.  This is for sure.  We are committed to live life with eyes wide open.  We have seen the truth about ourselves and decided to live a life of being a child of God based on grace.

Those who drill holes in the boat can be those who consider themselves religious or not religious.  It really doesn’t matter.  If they don’t support our desire to focus on good goals with clear eyed focus they may come into conflict and competition with what is best for them and for us.  We are trying to come up with win/win solutions.  We are rowing in a boat with other people and helping them to succeed along with ourselves.  This can be our own family members or school teachers, coaches and leaders who are helping us to live a good life and train for a better life.

We run into people who focus on our disability and see this as a sign that we are “losers” in life.  That is not our self image.  We have been created in the image of God.  We are ready to live a life where love is not in short supply.  Caring and kindness is not a zero sum game.  When I help some more people in life it doesn’t mean my life gets smaller.  My life actually gets expanded.

I met two new friends at the aquatic workout center yesterday.  Marsha and Laura.  I also saw three old friends that I hadn’t seen in a year.  I greeted the old friends and added the two new ones without any loss.  All five of these people did their best to encourage me to be the best I could be and keep my workouts going.

There was not anyone drilling holes in my boat.  I was tempted to be lazy and not want to workout on the bike last night.  That was not anyone but my own temptation from the evil one.

There are people who think they are God.  They think that they know why I have problems.  They blame me for things I didn’t do.  They want me to do life following them and their religion instead of following my own relationship with Jesus.  I must say no to them and Yes to Jesus.

John 9.

9 As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. ² His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

³ “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him. ⁴ As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. ⁵ While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
⁶ After saying this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes. ⁷ “Go,” he told him, “wash in the Pool of Siloam” (this word means “Sent”). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.
⁸ His neighbors and those who had formerly seen him begging asked, “Isn’t this the same man who used to sit and beg?” ⁹ Some claimed that he was.
Others said, “No, he only looks like him.”
But he himself insisted, “I am the man.”
¹⁰ “How then were your eyes opened?” they asked.
¹¹ He replied, “The man they call Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes. He told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed, and then I could see.”
¹² “Where is this man?” they asked him.
“I don’t know,” he said.

The Pharisees Investigate the Healing

¹³ They brought to the Pharisees the man who had been blind. ¹⁴ Now the day on which Jesus had made the mud and opened the man’s eyes was a Sabbath. ¹⁵ Therefore the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. “He put mud on my eyes,” the man replied, “and I washed, and now I see.”
¹⁶ Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.”
But others asked, “How can a sinner perform such signs?” So they were divided.

Larry Wishard

9.15.17