Don’t Try This Alone.

As we headed back into the Chicago Harbor Lock after a brief jaunt on Lake Michigan, we found that we had timed it all wrong. The already “inefficient” 15-minute process was about to double, if not triple. With time to fill, our tour guide went off-script. He began to share about an experience he and the crew had experienced a few weeks prior when the locking-process had to be shut down. He began to tell us of an inexperienced captain of a small watercraft that attempted to go through the Lock alone. Rather than having crew mates to hold the lines on the front and back of his small sailboat along the cement wall, he tried to hold the line himself in the center at midship. As the water began to flood into the lock, his little boat began to spin with gaining momentum until he was completely off his designated spot on the wall and out of control. Realizing his distress, the Lock operator stopped the locking process for this naïve captain to get his small boat under control. His failure to secure his boat put not only himself and his boat in danger, but others in the process as well. Thankfully, no one was hurt, but he found himself caught behind a larger boat and facing the wrong direction when he finally regained composure.

As our retiree turned tour guide recounted that fateful day, my mind spun out with the spiritual metaphors at play. We can’t hold our own lines. It doesn’t work and it is dangerous to us and others around us. We need others on board to hold the lines for us. We need others to anchor us in the Truth of the Word and the Promises of God, to hold us up in prayer when the water feels like it will overtake us, or when the process feels so painfully slow that we want to jump ship. We need others to be truth-tellers for us. To call us out when we are going the wrong way and to call us up to the things God has created us for. Hear me friends: We can’t live out our callings alone! We need others to speak Truth or we will spin out!  I am so convinced that Satan works the hardest to discourage us in the very places God wants to use us to bring love and life to the world. Because of that, we need others to tell us the truth of who we are in Christ. To speak back to the lies we are tempted to believe. To speak out loud how they see God using us as instruments of glory. To call us out when we are living out of accord with who we are as the redeemed bride of Christ. Friend, think about this: Who is holding your lines? Who is fighting for you on their knees? Who calls out your giftings? The best way to start finding the crew members for your ship is to yourself be the crew member for somebody else’s ship! All aboard my friends! Let’s jump into each other’s boats, pick up the lines and hold steady.

“Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir one another up to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” Hebrews 10:23-25 (ESV)

To Ponder:

What areas of your life are you tempted to tackle alone? What might change if you invited someone else to hold the lines for you in that space?

Think of someone who has been a line holder for you. How did their presence in your life encourage you? Text, call, or message them and thank them for it!

Who are you currently holding the lines for? Who in your life is in need of crew members? What are some ways you could move toward them in love and speak life over them?

To Pray:

Thank you, Lord, for making us for community. Thank you that we don’t have to do this life alone. Forgive us for the ways we try and spin out; putting ourselves and others at risk. Lord, humble us to know our need of you and our need of each other. Make us teachable and give us open hearts ready to receive correction when needed. Lord, thank you that as we seek to follow you, you promise to provide encouragement to us through your Spirit and your people. Raise us up as crew members for others, Lord. Would we seek to serve one another rather than be served.  For your glory and the good of your people, Amen.