The Unseen Hand

 In Blog, Pam Cavanaugh

During the course of my life, I have made a mental list of things I would like to accomplish and places I would like to travel. I have learned in recent years that this is called your “Bucket List.

 

Well, if I had a written bucket list, whale watching would certainly be on it!

 

This past summer, I traveled to Ecuador on a mission trip. One bright day we had some down time and some of us on the team prepared to go whale watching on the Pacific Ocean. I boarded a boat with about 9 other team members and snapped my life jacket on. The mountains and the Pacific waves were vast an amazing.

 

I sat in the center of the boat and I noticed a huge strong rope tied to the front of the boat that ran down the middle all the way to the back of the boat. Hmm, I wondered what this rope was for. No one seemed to know why it was there.

 

As we looked out in the ocean, we could see a different kind of movement in the water running along side of our boat. This is it – the whale we are going to see. The drivers of the boat cranked it up and we started going very fast as we chased this whale. All of the sudden, we hit a high wave at a very fast pace! I thought I was going to fly right out of the boat. I went up and came down very hard. Whew…just then I realized what the rope was for! It was for you to hold onto tightly – to keep you secure in the boat. You guessed it, I was now holding on to this rope until we hit land again!

 

As we were cruising across the ocean, I was thinking how so many times in my Christian life I do this with the Word of God and the Gospel. It is there like that rope – something for us to hold on to in order to keep us secure and on track. We think we are okay cruising along and we don’t hold on to the rope. We don’t find out what the rope is for! I am so grateful the Lord is my rope and my strength that I can hold on to. He is the one who keeps me on track because of what Christ, through the gospel, has done in my life.

 

Psalm 121:18 says, “The Lord shall preserve your going out and your coming in from this time forth and for evermore.” Psalm 86:11 says, “Teach me your way, O Lord, I will walk in your truth; unite my heart to fear your name.” I must never let go of Christ and must never neglect making His word and gospel the center of my life.

 

So, you are asking, “Did you ever see the whale?” The boat stopped and this huge humpback whale came up out of the water and his tail came flapping back and forth in the air – it was truly an amazing sight.

 

Bucket List – Whale Watching – Check!

 

I am holding to the rope and I am not letting go, Lord – keep on teaching me and showing me your ways.

 

Pam Cavanaugh

 

The Unseen Hand
A. J. Simms

There’s an unseen hand to me
That leads through ways, I cannot see
While going through, this world of woe
This hand still leads, me as I go

I’m trusting to, the unseen hand
That guides me through, this weary land
And some sweet day, I’ll reach that strand
Still guided by, the unseen hand

I long to see, my Savior’s face
And sing the story, of his grace
And there upon, that golden strand
I’ll praise him for, his guiding hand

I’m holding to, the unseen hand
That guides me through, this weary land
And some sweet day, I’ll reach that strand
Still holding to, the unseen hand

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