Trust the Coxswain

Brace yourself for metaphors.

Fun fact: in rowing there is a position known as the coxswain. Those who are rowing are going backwards--the only sport in which you race without seeing the finish line--except for the coxswain. He can see. He guides the others in the boat by calling out directions and having them adjust the steering. The crew doesn't question their coxswain, but put their trust in his ability to see the goal, everything around their boat, the other boats, and the efforts of the crew themselves. 

If they don't trust him, they can't turn around themselves anyway, so they would be rowing blind. They don't ask him why they need to adjust their rowing, but have confidence that the adjustment leads to a better hope for reaching the finish line first. He has to think about the winds and the current as well. What they have to focus on is steadily keeping the course.

How often in our lives do we wonder how God is leading us? Find it difficult to trust? Question the journey? It would be easier if we knew the finish line, we say. It would be nicer if we could pick our own crosses, we say. It would be better if we could see it all exactly as its coming...it would be, it would be, it would be. If we had all that, we wouldn't need God then would we?

Our Lord asks us to have faith. In the storms of life, in the rocky waves, in the unsteadiness of life on the water, He asks us to put our confidence in His Providence. It's those times when we don't give up that shows we are in it to win it. It's worth the race, it's worth the effort, its worth risking all for the One in our boat.