I once sailed on calm peaceful seas under fare skies. Life abounded in blessings and ease. Without warning I have been torpedoed taking a broadside hit and my vessel is taking on water. While the pumps work furiously I fear they will not be able to withstand the damage done.
I look back on better days and wonder how I got here. Past days of peace. Foregone days of joy, abidance and fruitfulness. How did the enemy break through my defenses. Where did it all go wrong?Somewhere along the way my compass broke and I wandered into dangerous enemy territory.
A person can spend their whole lives looking back. Such a person cannot go back in time and recapture the glory of former days except in their mind. They cannot recreate the past. Our only legitimate option is to press ahead.
That might mean barely staying afloat slowly sailing into port for necessary repairs and restoration. It might mean limping into God's hospital of mercy and recovery.
There is nothing in the past except some memories. It does no good to take flights of fancy wanting to return to days gone by. It cannot be done. No matter how I think about former days playing football I cannot go back and don the purple and gold of the Lufkin Panthers or the blue and gold of the Howard Payne Yellow Jackets. My body reminds me all the time I am not what I used to be. Those days are gone.
In the present this vessel is damaged and taking on water. It doesn't mean my demise. It just means I have been hit by unseen torpedoes beneath the water that slammed into my hull. it doesn't mean I'm giving up but the reality is my vessel is damaged. Port is in sight though. There I can find safe harbor. If I press ahead I can find all the necessary help to repair the damage. So I press ahead. Slowly.
The past is past. It is behind me. I have to own the mistakes I've made and the consequences for bad choices. I cannot undo any of what lies behind me. The script has been written in permanent ink in the book of my life. While I can learn from the past I can't rewrite it.
O but the future is a different story. Those chapter remain unwritten. The future is filled with possibilities. There are multiple opportunities ahead. Even now I chart the course for future voyages. In the future my vessel will sail to exciting new adventures. I expect I will weather some stormy seas as well as to enjoy calm seas and gentle breezes. I know danger lurks ahead. The enemy schemes to sink my ship. I sail under the banner of protection of a Sovereign Commander in Chief. Jesus is my battleship offering safe passage.
Philippians 3:12-14 (NKJV)
12 Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.
13 Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead,
14 I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
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