Surviving Life's Shipwrecks By Greg Laurie

 

Surviving life's shipwrecks by Greg Laurie over at World Net Daily

 

In April 2008, I began teaching a series in the book of Acts at my church. Little did I know at the time that pretty much in the middle of that series, the greatest tragedy, trauma and shipwreck of my lifetime would take place.

 

I have had my share of hardships in life – more than many, but not as many as some. I had hoped that maybe the big shipwrecks were over. I always knew there would be storms and difficulties in the Christian life, but hopefully no big, traumatic events. I had hoped there would be relatively smooth sailing all the way to heaven. But with the unexpected death of my oldest son, Christopher, that was not to be.

 

The apostle Paul, a prominent figure in the book of Acts, was shipwrecked three times. In those days, travel by sea was primitive. It was harsh. You took your life into your own hands when you boarded one of those first-century sailing vessels. And Paul had lived through a shipwreck three times.

 

So how do we survive a shipwreck in life? We all will have them in some way, shape, or form. The reality of life is that you are either coming out of a storm or going into another one. That is just the way it is. There are times when you will have smooth sailing. There are times when the sky will be blue and the sun will be shining. There will be beautiful moments between the storms. And, not all the winds that blow in life are necessarily devastating.

 

On Paul’s voyage to Rome, we read in Acts that “the south wind blew softly” (Acts 27:13 NKJV). Sometimes that is the way it is. The south wind is blowing softly. You feel the warmth of the sun on your shoulders. Thank God for those moments. But then a storm comes.

 

Sometimes people think that when they are in the will of God, they will have smooth sailing. That was not true of the apostle Paul. He seemed to face every kind of adversity imaginable. He had many enemies that were jealous of his success and would follow him around and undermine him, intending to destroy him. He had many setbacks in life that involved beatings and physical harm. And he had a personal, physical disability that he prayed to be healed of, but God said no.

 

Commenting on those setbacks, he wrote, “We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed” (2 Corinthians 4:8–9 NLT). 

 

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