So I wake up this morning and flip on the news. Here is still photos depicting an enormous freighters being attacked by pirates in...yup, small speedboats. You know the kind- like your cousin Larry uses to go crawdad fishin in the bayou.
Okay, so they have guns. But c'mon- it's a freighter! It's carrying tanks for God's sake. Surely these speedboats pose no threat.
Only....yup, you guessed it- they are negotiating with the pirates. As we speak. From a freighter. To a speedboat.
It occurred to me that this is in some ways a huge metaphor for faith. Here we stand, in a mighty fortress. We are protected...not from everything, surely, but we feel safe. We feel held. We feel secure.
Then along comes the world and it's dark troubles and we panic. Even though these troubles are small in comparison to our God, we still stand at the deck and look about with fear. There is steel and security around us, but we often don't rest easy in those boundaries- instead we look out into the water, into our troubles.
It is a sad state of reality that often the speedboat seems bigger than the freighter. But that is a manner of perspective isn't it- when your eyes see only outward to the threat, they are not seeking the security of the known savior.
Faith is defined many ways in the Bible, but the word fortress is used again and again. Faith is a defense against the world, against our own disbelief, against despair. It is meant to be used, it is meant to be utilized. We are meant to run to our fortress and feel safe. We are meant to shelter from the stormy waters.
And when the speedboats arrive, we are meant to go inside, close the hatches, and find peace.
