One day I was sitting in the taxi waiting on traffic as I rode to the government offices in Antananarivo. The book I was reading, Life on the Mississippi by Mark Twain, started talking about the steam boat pilots. The more I read it the more I was reminded of a sheet I had worked on. Just the day before I read a chapter in The Utter Relief of Holiness and John Eldredge shared some verses about a good way to start the day in Christ.
I saved sharing it with you till now, because just last week the ship sailed from Madagascar to South Africa. When the Pilot steps onto the bridge the Captain takes a step back and lets him work. The Pilot directs it to the safest rout and controls the vessel. The Africa is deep in maintenance period now till the end of July. As you read through the following passage from Mark Twain think about who your pilot is. And as the ship is in maintenance period and many of the crew including myself are away think about how much maintenance we need to do on our relationships with, family, friends, our savior and ourselves.
A pilot in those days, was the only unfettered and entirely independent human being that lived in the heart. Kings are but the hampered servants of parliament and people; parliaments sin in chains forged by their constituency; the editor of a newspaper cannot be independent, but must work with one hand tied behind him by party and patrons, and be content to utter only half to two thirds of his mind; no clergyman is a free man and may speak the whole truth, regardless of his parish’s opinions; writers of all kinds are manacled servants of the public. We write frankly and fearlessly, but then we “modify” before we print. In truth, every man and woman and child has a master, and worries and frets in servitude; but in the day I write off, the Mississippi pilot had none. The captain could stand upon the hurricane deck, in the pomp of a very brief authority, and five him five or six orders while the vessel backed into the stream, and then skipper’s reign was over. The moment that the boat was under way in the river, she was under the sole unquestioned control of the pilot. He could do with her exactly as he pleases, run her when and whiter he chose, and tie her up to the bank whenever his judgement said that the course was best. His movements were entirely free; he consulted no one, he received commands from nobody, he promptly resented even the merest suggestions. Indeed, the law of the United States forbad him to listen to commands or suggestions, rightly considering that the pilot necessarily knew better how to handle the boat that anybody could tell him. So here was the novelty of a king without a keeper, an absolute monarch who was absolute in sober truth and not by a fiction of words.
I saved sharing it with you till now, because just last week the ship sailed from Madagascar to South Africa. When the Pilot steps onto the bridge the Captain takes a step back and lets him work. The Pilot directs it to the safest rout and controls the vessel. The Africa is deep in maintenance period now till the end of July. As you read through the following passage from Mark Twain think about who your pilot is. And as the ship is in maintenance period and many of the crew including myself are away think about how much maintenance we need to do on our relationships with, family, friends, our savior and ourselves.
A pilot in those days, was the only unfettered and entirely independent human being that lived in the heart. Kings are but the hampered servants of parliament and people; parliaments sin in chains forged by their constituency; the editor of a newspaper cannot be independent, but must work with one hand tied behind him by party and patrons, and be content to utter only half to two thirds of his mind; no clergyman is a free man and may speak the whole truth, regardless of his parish’s opinions; writers of all kinds are manacled servants of the public. We write frankly and fearlessly, but then we “modify” before we print. In truth, every man and woman and child has a master, and worries and frets in servitude; but in the day I write off, the Mississippi pilot had none. The captain could stand upon the hurricane deck, in the pomp of a very brief authority, and five him five or six orders while the vessel backed into the stream, and then skipper’s reign was over. The moment that the boat was under way in the river, she was under the sole unquestioned control of the pilot. He could do with her exactly as he pleases, run her when and whiter he chose, and tie her up to the bank whenever his judgement said that the course was best. His movements were entirely free; he consulted no one, he received commands from nobody, he promptly resented even the merest suggestions. Indeed, the law of the United States forbad him to listen to commands or suggestions, rightly considering that the pilot necessarily knew better how to handle the boat that anybody could tell him. So here was the novelty of a king without a keeper, an absolute monarch who was absolute in sober truth and not by a fiction of words.
Now look over the verses that John shared. If it's too small right click and open it in a new page.
Who's your pilot. Do you let the Lord direct you without question? When I look back it seems that the times my life seemed shook up were resulted when I tried to make my own decisions. I would encourage you to read through the verses again. It's hard to imagine a bad day after starting it off reading what God did for us in Jesus
Who's your pilot. Do you let the Lord direct you without question? When I look back it seems that the times my life seemed shook up were resulted when I tried to make my own decisions. I would encourage you to read through the verses again. It's hard to imagine a bad day after starting it off reading what God did for us in Jesus
