Touching Base! Part 107

Who’s On the Boat?

(This article can also we found on our website
at http://www.bethelkingston.com under the tab called "Blog")

This Touching Base is a useful tool for small group discussion, personal reflection or in a one-on-one conversation. We believe that if the Sunday teaching is discussed outside of the morning services, it will be an opportunity to go deeper and build healthy community because God's Word needs to be discussed in community.

Recently, a friend and I have been reading through a book together, “The Healing Journey for Adult Children of Alcoholics” by Daryl Quick (ISBN #978-0830813285), with a view of perhaps starting a book group at a later date. Although it’s aimed at the aforementioned adult children of alcoholics, I’ve found that it could be an invaluable resource for anyone trying to understand their (perhaps broken) family, its impact on them in childhood and how this can unwittingly set up destructive patterns in all facets of adulthood – from relationships to work life.

One of Mr. Quick’s points, and perhaps the toughest to deal with, is his insistence that what happened in the past CANNOT remain buried and in fact, that is the very problem which leads to the destructive patterns later in life, since the buried hurt will find a way to manifest itself (and not usually in a positive way!), no matter what you do.

I wholeheartedly agree with the man! My analogy (and I was discussing this with a nurse friend of mine on Wednesday- she agreed with me!) is that there are times when the body is unwell, and the only thing it can do is to make you vomit to help you get rid of whatever it is that is making you sick. This is invariably followed by a “gee, I do feel a bit better.”

My point (and Mr. Quick’s) is this, though: the vomiting bit… isn’t FUN. But what it leads to, is wholeness. In order to feel well, we have to get rid of the garbage, by bringing it up to the light and letting God change us from within, so He can cart it away. This is what He does with sanctification. But this can be scary… because it hurts. It can feel like we are right in the middle of a storm we have tried very hard to hide. But it’s precisely that very “trying very hard” that’s destroying us from within. In fact there are times when our sanctification takes longer than it should, because we’re too busy arguing with God over whether or not He should be doing this. How’s that for hubris? “Pardon me, O Almighty Creator of the Universe, while I try to tell You how You should do Your business.” Now that’s insanity!

So here’s the tough question: are you in one of those storms right now? Is it a new storm, or is it perhaps something you’ve been keeping buried your entire life? Well, here’s the good news… Jesus has offered to be in the boat with you, and He already knows all about the storm, being omniscient and all. What He’s saying, though, is “Trust me.” He will never leave you nor forsake you - He may even bring other passengers onto the boat with you so you can share the ride together: friends, other family members, godly counselors, medical professionals…

We don’t have to be alone on the journey. And the result will be that God will make us into a follower of Christ who becomes truly “relationally whole”, one of the Marks of a Disciple that we’d love to see in ourselves and the whole congregation at Bethel (hint: you’ll be learning more about those in the months to come!)

You’re on the boat anyway... the question is: will you let Christ come with you?

Think about it, pray about it. And if you want to find out where you can go next, help is just a phone call (542-2990) or an e-mail (bethel@kingston.net) away.

Carmen

If interested in joining or starting a small group contact markkotchapaw@gmail.com