A Sailing Ship

Paul speaks of death as the sailing of a ship: "I am hard pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart and to be with Christ, for that is very much better" (Php 1:23). The word used for "depart" was used for the loosening of an anchor. A.T. Robertson translates it, "To weigh anchor and put out to sea."

Thanks to Christ, Paul was ready to embark on the trip that would take him heavenward. Christ had already successfully navigated the harbor and Paul was eager to try his hand at it. Yet because of his friends on this side of the curtain he said, "yet to remain on in the flesh is more necessary for your sake" (v 24). Paul was in a bigger hurry than the Lord was, but a few years later he was able to say, "I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come" (2 Tim 4:6).

The writer of the book of Hebrews in the Greek Scriptures (the New Testament) picks up this imagery and says, "This hope we have as an anchor for the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters within the veil, where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us" (Heb 6:19-20). That means we seek our security neither in feelings nor experiences but solely in Christ Jesus our Lord. Our anchor is fastened to Christ, who is already within the Holy of Holies where he now lives.

Philip Mauro suggests that the picture here is that of a forerunner used in ancient times to help a vessel enter the harbor safely. He would jump from the ship, swim through the harbor, and fasten a strong rope of the ship to a solid rock along the shore and then by means of a winch, the vessel was safely brought in to dock at the shoreline.

A Permanent Home
Paul wrote that in this world we are "at home" in the body, but in the world to come we will be "at home" with the Lord (2 Cor 5:6-8). He writes, "We are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord" (v 8). Paul understandably preferred the mansion to the tent. Why should we fear death if it is the path to our home where we belong? Jesus assures us that there is nothing to fear; in fact, the knowledge that we shall die gives us courage and hope to live triumphantly in this life!

Most of us are comforted when we are told that we are going to keep living; Paul was encouraged when he was told that he was dying. He repeatedly referred to death as that which is "far better." Perhaps we don't view things as Paul did with so much optimism because we tend to think of death as taking us from our home, rather than bringing us to it. To die is to go home to heaven; to live is to continue to exist in a foreign land. Someday we will understand the distinction between the two much better than we do now. But for us, the future is ours by faith.

Good Grief!
Though we may be comforted by these things I've just written about, we most often still think of death with various degrees of terror. Paul asks, "O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?" (1 Cor 15:55). When a bee first stings a person he loses his stinger and is unable to sting a second time. He can only threaten and frighten us. Because Christ removed death's sting, it can now only threaten and frighten us; but it can no longer make good on its threats. The same God who we allow to guide us now on earth will escort us all the way to heaven where we really belong. "With Thy counsel Thou wilt guide me, and afterward receive one to glory" (Ps 73:24).

Dying grace does not mean that we will be free from sorrow, whether it's our own death or that of someone we care about. Some Christians mistakenly think that the exhibition of grief demonstrates a lack of faith. But this is erroneous thinking because even our Lord cried over the death of His friend, Lazarus, and He cried knowing He was going to bring Lazarus back to life again! We sorrow and grieve because we are human and grief is part of our humanity. It's part of the human experience and we should not be made to feel embarrassment or be shunned when we express it.

Good grief is grief that enables us to make the passage to a new place of existence with dignity and comfort. The widow must learn to live alone; the parents must learn to live with the loss of a dearly loved child. Grief that deals honestly with the pain is part of the healing process. Sorrow and grief are to be expected. Dozens of passages in the Old and New Testaments tell us how the saints mourned the loss of friends and family. But we must not forget that there is a difference between tears of hope and tears of hopelessness. A believer has the hope of Christ Jesus so he is never consumed with hopelessness. We can be assured that death is the chariot our heavenly Father sends to bring us to Himself. Bon voyage!

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We had 1/2 inch of rain last night, which is 1/2 inch more than I had expected us to get. Not too shabby. Everything is washed clean and the colors are vivid and bright outside. Looks like the sun is going away though; there are clouds moving into our area again so we may get more rain today.

I have Pretty up here helping me type this morning. Usually it's Mario. Pretty is our long-haired black cat with the most gorgous torquiose eyes. I've never seen another cat with eyes the same color as Pretty's. She wanted the top of her head scratched and also under her chin. She's in ecstacy if you use both hands and scratch both places at once.

I may start leaving my installments up for a couple days instead of only one day. That would allow people more time to read each section of my blog. I'm just kind of feeling my way around here as I go, folks. I guess you'll know if you check two days in a row and see the same installment up there on your screen. And I guess you can always go back and read what you missed so I really don't know what or how I'm going to do this. Just looked outside and I can see patches of blue sky out there so I don't think we're in for more "rain," sprinkles or a light shower maybe but probably not real rain. (Does that mean I'm inticipating the possibility of fake rain??)

Well, I have chores that need to be done and this isn't getting to them so I should get busy and not make this installment any longer than it is. See you all tomorrow or maybe the next day. You'll know when you check tomorrow. Oh, before I go ... my spell checker is still not working and I think we may be stuck without it from here on out. I always check at least once but a lot of times my mind will just skip right over a mistake and it may get through to the finished blog. I apologize. I will try to proof more carefully now that I know my checker isn't working.