“Gather My saints together to Me…” Psalm 50:5

Ship to Shore

I stood on the beach, watching waterlogged pieces of wood tangled with kelp wash ashore. There was no treasure in it—at least nothing I considered to have worth. I couldn’t help but wonder where it came from, though. What had been the life of this wood? What far country did it come from? What broke and splintered it? And how did it survive the waves and currents and storms that brought it?

At our last breath on this earth, some of us will arrive at that Far Shore as a strong ship in full sail, hull intact, banners flying, where Jesus awaits with outstretched arms.

But some of us will arrive as wreckage, broken in pieces, battered by the wind and waves of life, barely afloat. God’s undercurrent of love brings our disabled selves to that same Far Shore. And it is not hard for Jesus to walk out on the water and gather the crushed and crippled ones to Himself.

Even a proud and beautiful ship must eventually lower its sails. Age creeps up on us, and we realize that no matter how our ship has sailed ‘til today, we are now getting close to the Far Shore. Without a sail, a ship must rely on the current. And it is the same current of God’s love that brings the ship as brings the wreckage.

“Oh God, may the current of Your love move us toward You at all times, whatever our storms. Help us to stay the course. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.”