I’m going to start off by saying that I don’t know much about sailing. The basic idea that I think I understand pretty well is that you put the sail up and there is an element of reliance upon the wind. I know that there is a lot more involved than that but you gotta have a sail and you gotta have wind. The crazy thing about wind that I’m sure any sailor could attest to is that it is not very predictable. It varies drastically in force and direction. It would be silly to think that there weren’t some elements of trust involved in sailing.

This is where we find our analogy. Perhaps one of the most exciting elements about following God is the element of trust. Our sail is our hearts and the wind is the Holy Spirit. Our job is to surrender our hearts and then to trust the movement and direction of the Holy Spirit.

What do we know about the Holy Spirit? He is one of the members of the Trinity and he is the Spirit of Christ that indwells the lives of believers. We know that he is good and that he has our best interest at heart. That being said, we do not always know what he is going to do or what it will look like when he does it. This is where trust comes in. We only have 2 options really. We can either trust ourselves or trust God (see Proverbs 3:5-6).

Putting the sail up may seem dangerous but in John 10:10 Jesus assures us that his purpose is to give us an amazing life. I know that for me this is a daily challenge. There is something deep inside of me that has no desire to surrender. That side of me wants to hold on for dear life and never let go. When that side of me hears about things like trust and surrender, it begins to feel like it’s very foundation is under attack. I’m not going to lie…that side of me is powerful and it’s really convincing. It seems to have my best interest at heart and it seems to want to protect me.

The other voice that I recognize as being the voice of God sounds something like this. “Chris, I love you dearly. I want you to trust me so that you can experience the life that I created you to live. I know it seems scary but I promise that I will be your protection.”

This is where the battle is but I daily must decide which voice to listen to. It is a minute to minute and day to day struggle. And similar to how it is with exercise, the voice that I listen to the most seems to get stronger.