Craig Clouston

 

The Danger of Drifting

October 15

We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.

Hebrews 2:1

Larry and his son, Danny, were spending the weekend Walleye fishing on Lake Erie. Danny’s 29 ft. ‘Shamrock 270 Open’ would handle 6-8 ft. waves, allowing them to fish when everyone else had to head back to the marina.

Fifty minutes out of Port Clinton, Larry got a hit. The fish was strong…taking line like the reel had no drag. “Slow us down a little Danny,” Larry suggested, not wanting to add stress on the line. As Danny throttled down Larry began reeling. The fight was on!

While Larry battled the fish Danny decided to cast off the other side of the boat, looking for his own bite. Neither gave any thought to allowing the boat to drift, they’d done it many times to land a fish.

Twenty-five adrenaline-filled minutes latter, Danny netted his dad’s twenty-nine inch, seventeen pound, trophy, “Niiiiice!”

In the habit of marking their catches for future reference, Larry pulled up their position on his GPS. “Crap!” His one word exclamation alerted Danny that something was wrong. Turing the instrument so Danny could see the screen, Larry said, “We’ve drifted into Canada.” The line of demarcation was clearly south of their position. “We’ll have to take a picture and release her right here.”

“I suppose,” Danny said, disappointed that they would have to throw the magnificent fish back because neither of them had obtained a Canadian fishing license.

†

Like the boat, we too can drift into unintended territory if we fail to pay attention. Without an anchor to hold us securely, we will find ourselves dealing with unpleasant consequences.

Biblical wisdom encourages us to give our full attention to the things that matter most, not just float through life, drifting along like an unanchored boat.

A cavalier approach to life and the gospel will cause us to reap unintended consequences, and we may never fulfill our purpose without constantly seeking God’s direction for our life.

God offers us the chance to become anchored to Jesus, and then pay careful attention to what we hear and do so we do not drift away.

Prayer

“Lord, help me remain rightly focused on Jesus, trusting that He is the Anchor that will hold me where I need to be. Amen.”