Many of you know that Teresa and I, along with Caryn, Chris, Cooper, and Caroline are on a celebratory cruise this week in the Caribbean. A year ago Caryn and I were far from where we are today. We are truly grateful for God’s healing and His blessings.
This morning I was up before the others, sitting on the back of the ship. I have spent many hours here this week because the floor above provides a safe haven from the sun. This is the fourth day that we have been at sea. I could write several blogs about what it is like to be on the ocean and not be able to see land in any direction for miles and miles. Many times in my life I have stood on the beach and looked at the ocean and I have thought about the vastness of creation. But the view from that perspective is limited when compared to being on the ocean. We are only in the “small” Caribbean compared to the Atlantic or the Pacific. Yesterday, as I looked across the vastness of the ocean I thought, “Only a fool would think all of this evolved.” There are many fools in the day in which we live. I read Isaiah 5 as part of my devotion this morning. “Woe to those who call good evil and evil good, who put darkness for light and light for darkness…Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight.” I have been forced to relax much of the week. The computer wouldn’t connect to the business computer, so there hasn’t been a lot I could do. It has been a blessed time to be with Teresa and Caryn and her family. Last evening when it was close to sunset I wanted to see the sun set across the horizon, so I headed to the front of the ship because we were heading due west. The wind was blowing rather hard and I was the only person crazy enough to be where I was. The railing was only about four foot tall and it hit me in the middle of my chest. I thought what it would have been like to be as tall as Matt Rose. Sometimes being short isn’t a bad thing! Clouds had rolled in at the horizon and seeing the sun set wasn’t a possibility. What could be seen were rays of the sun shining above the clouds. Not a bad picture of what my life has been the last 16 months. Recovering from thyroid cancer and surgery has been relatively easy on one hand but in some ways difficult on another. The difficult part has been regaining the strength of my voice. I shared in a blog last fall about being at a funeral and singing, “It Is Well.” It took me days to recover from that. Last evening as I stood on the bow of the ship, I started singing. With no one else around, I spent close to 45 minutes singing in worship and praise to our Lord. As you might expect, I sang about the goodness of God. “As long as I am able, I will sing of the goodness of God.” I sang about the greatness of God. I sang about the blood of Jesus. I sang about the promise of heaven. I literally sang until the evening came—and I was a bit late for dinner! At least when it comes to singing, it was the strongest that my voice has been since the surgery. I am more than grateful for that. I have very little repercussions of that today. I say that I try to model Jesus’ example, but I am far from doing that in lots of ways. One of those is in the way that Jesus lived during the three years of His ministry. As we read the Gospels we see Jesus as both the Son of God and the Son of Man. The human side of Jesus grew thirsty, tired, and weary. He was so tired one day that He slept through a storm on the Sea of Galilee. The disciples had to wake Him to save them. As we look closely at the Gospels, we also see times when Jesus intentionally chose to get away from the crowds and rest. During His ministry His model was work/rest/work/rest. Included in those times of rest were often times alone with His Father up on the mountain and away from even the disciples. I need to model that far more in my life. Lord, I thank You for creating this world. You have set the heavens in place by the work of Your finger. Only a fool could think that You didn’t. Thank You for Your greatness and Your goodness, as well as Your grace that has brought about healing. Help me to model Jesus in my life, including the intentional choice to more often get away and spend time with You and those I love.
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Chuck Cooper
Pastor at Daybreak Community Church Archives
November 2024
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