Well that’s another week done and another week closer to coming home, so I’m sat
here at sea writing my next post. Its quite rough at the moment, so mixed with
the heat, life is quite uncomfortable on the ship.
I thought this week I would think a little
bit about routines. Life in the Navy is run on routines. For example because it
was Friday today, we got up and cleaned our accommodation for an hour, because
we knew at 1030 it would be inspected. I also know there will be fish and chips
for lunch, just because it is Friday.
I can be quite set in my routines and ways,
but after 14 years in the Navy some things are just hard to shake off. For
example even when I am not at work I will get up at the same time if it is a
week day, but then I will let myself have an hour lye in on a Saturday and
Sunday.
Some routines on a ship are good, like the
fact Saturday is steak night! You get cheered up on a Saturday because you know
you have something to look forward to. But some routines on the ship are not so
good, like the fact you know you will be duty 3 times a month and have to clean
the toilets.
Some people do not need routines, my
Girlfriend is much more free spirited, creative and chilled out than me. She
tends to see that routines cramp and restrict her. Where as to me they provide a
structure and framework. Neither of us is right nor wrong, its just personal
preference.
But with my love of routines there are two
things I have had to be quite strict about setting a routine for since I have
come to the ship. Prayer and Bible reading, at times I find when I’m busy or
stressed or feeling down, those are the first things that get thrown out the
window. When really they should be what I hold onto and use to strengthen and
encourage me.
Right now, I feel I have quite a good prayer
and Bible reading routine. I am following the Salvation Army's New Testament in
a year program to keep me in the Bible. I also think I have quite a good prayer
routine going at the moment, both on my own and with my girlfriend. However I do
feel I could fit more time for prayer into my life. Sometimes I don’t think I
spend enough time doing it, or when I do I drift off and start thinking about
other things. You wouldn’t do that in a conversation with a friend so why do it
to God? (Well you might do it with a friend, but they probably wouldn’t be your
friend for much longer!).
I will be honest this week has not been the
best for me and at the beginning of the week I struggled to pray. Due to certain
circumstances I felt so lost alone and far from God. My routines went out the
window and things just all went wrong. Until I picked up my Bible where I left
off and the days reading was Luke 18.
Luke 18
The Parable of the Persistent Widow
1 Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to
show them that they should always pray and not give up. 2 He said:
“In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what
people thought. 3 And there was a widow in that town who kept coming
to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’
4 “For some time he refused. But finally
he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think,
5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets
justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!’” 6 And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. 7 And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? 8 I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”
That kind of slapped me in the face and
brought me back around. If a bad ruler will give to his people because of their
persistence, then how much more so will our living, loving God!
So to sum it up, next time your feeling down
or far from God or alone, don’t give up your routines! Stick to them, read your
Bible, you never know how it might speak to you! And most of all pray, even if
you feel alone when you are doing it. Because even if you don’t feel or think he
is, God is listening and if what your asking for actually is in Gods plan for
you, you will get it.
The Sailing Salvationist
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