-Joe Fornear
Last summer I was out on the lake in my 25-year-old boat, which you can think of as a giant fish magnet – just saying. At one point I decided to move so I started the motor and shifted into gear.
Yet whenever I increased the throttle, the motor would only roar – there was no movement. A few guys stopped by to troubleshoot, until one finally towed me into the dock.
As I was pulling the boat out of the water on the trailer, I mentioned to a guy that my motor sounded great, but the boat wouldn’t go. While I was tying the boat down in the parking lot, he walked over and said, “Maybe your boat won’t go because it has no propeller.”
Sure enough the prop had come loose, spun clean off the shaft, and fallen into the lake. When the boat was in the water, no one could see that it had come off. I was embarrassed, but relieved there was a simple solution.
This boat breakdown was a bit like coping in my own strength during my Stage IV cancer battle. The Lord was “ever present” with His incredible power, but like a motor without a prop, I was not utilizing Him. I insisted on being strong in myself, and I was going nowhere slow – just drifting on the water.
I believe the key to coping with crisis is dependence on His power. In Paul’s prayer for the Colossians, the result of this dependence is great endurance, patience and joyful thanksgiving – which would come in handy in a cancer battle or in everyday life!
… being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father… – Colossians 1:11-12
Paul was no stranger to hardship. He mastered some miserable circumstances – jailings, whippings, beating and stonings. He knew what it took to not just survive, but to thrive. So like Paul, let’s allow dependence on God’s power to propel us forward into great endurance and patience, even joy.
You might be thinking: “Joy now, in the midst of my awful circumstances? No way!” But Jesus said, “What is impossible with man is possible with God!”
