The Game Plan For Life.

Hey Family, I heard the above quote today. And I heard it from the most UN-likely of places... My boss during a staff meeting... He wanted us to understand about distractions. He talked about how we have so much that we have to do, but sometimes we get caught up in many distractions. Conversations, sports, life, text messages, phone calls, etc... But when he was talking about all this, all I could think of was the following scripture... 

Mark 4:35-38

35That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.” 36Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. 

37A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. 38Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”

Can I just say wow? This scripture has always meant a lot to me in so many ways. It is a faith message. It is a "panic button" message. Today, it's about distractions. I'm a pretty visual person. So I really need to take you on a journey in my mind. I hope I can get you to see what I see. And to make sure you all understand it well, I'll be using myself and my family as the example. Holy Spirit, please help me out with this, in the name of Jesus.




So imagine yourself in a boat. Don't get all fancy and picture yourself in a yacht. Just a small paddle boat. Now imagine yourself standing in the boat, just trying to navigate the water and get to your destination. Could be a little difficult if you aren't a person that is skilled in a paddleboat right? But it's only you? You can figure it out I'm sure. Now imagine in the water are the issues of YOUR life. Not anyone else's. Your career, your business ventures, your debt, your love, your service, your time, etc.... Anything that you have to deal with for yourself. Practice makes perfect in paddling that boat to get through navigating the things you have to deal with for yourself. And if it gets a little tough, you know that Jesus is laying at the stern of the boat in front of you taking a nap. Nothing is going to happen as long as you have Him with you. Can't picture it? Here is a picture for you to be able to visualize what I see. See the flat area? Imagine Jesus sleeping right there. And you are on the seat with your paddle and you have to navigate from there.

Now imagine that it's not just you in the boat. Let's imagine you are married. That's awesome right?! Now you have help navigating that boat!!!! Well, the thing is that each person has their own things that they navigate too. So yes, you have help to navigate these things. But now you have twice as much to navigate. You have his and her life, you have his and her debt, you have his and her careers and business ventures, you have his and her time. And not only do you have double the amount to navigate through, even though there are 2 of you to do it. But the only way to make it work is to COMMUNICATE EFFECTIVELY. Imagine you are trying to navigate the boat from one side but your spouse is constantly trying to help you so much that you are doing it in an uncomfortable way because you are doing it their way. And not yours.




That reminds me of when David was going to kill Goliath and they were trying to put on armor that was just too big for him. It was uncomfortable. He couldn't work it right. David knew he could do the job with the tools that God gave him. It was up to everyone else to trust that David could do the job with what God gave him.

Back to the boat, Imagine also that you and your spouse are on the same side of the boat, by agreement, just trying to navigate one side. Now the boat is completely disregarded on the other side because both heads are trying to tackle one side. Yes, that may seem like a good strategy, but how unprotected does it leave you? Are the things that are not being tackled growing and slowly creeping into your boat while you are unaware?  But then again, Jesus is in the boat with you, and when you notice those things that grew while you were trying to tackle one thing at a time, you catch yourself saying "Jesus, I made a mistake and ignored this. I just need a little help getting it back under control." And you trust that since Jesus is in the boat with you, even if He is sleeping, things will be ok and you move on. Imagine the both of you going back and forth on the boat with the same strategy of tacking items with both heads on the same item. Things will always be growing right? I can imagine that you now have drops of sweat from fighting so hard, just falling into the boat. Those drops called Frustration, Aggravation, Bitterness, Resentment. Whew. Lets see that boat again.....

Well, it's been hard work navigating right? Whew! Catch your breath. Ok, now guess what. Lets imagine you are both responsible for children. But they aren't strong enough to navigate a boat, so it's still just you and your spouse navigating. And you always cover your children in prayer, so lets imagine, you place your children in the stern of the boat where Jesus us sleeping.

(Where else would they be the most protected but in the arms of Jesus? Smart! Yes, you are a genius!!! Remember, they are only protected if you are covering them in prayer. Which is the visualization of keeping them in the stern with Jesus!)

But guess what, because you have children, now you have more to navigate in that sea of life. Now you have to add their education, daycare, safety, their career goals, their time. Goodness this sea of life is getting pretty packed. But remember there are 2 of you to navigate this sea. It doesn't have to be overwhelming if you communicate and work together. You finally realize you need to get a strategy together and execute it.

The Game Plan To Tackle Life.

Yes! You finally get it together. For a moment there you almost forgot that Jesus was in the boat with you too, right? Got a little crazy! When you add your issues, your spouses issues, and the things for the kids.... Whew!!!! It's enough to make your head spin when you don't have a Good Game Plan and learn to Trust your partner to do the job however it is that God gave them the tools to do it!

But remember, that enemy is not going to just let you navigate life easily. There are distractions that WILL come. And guess what. I've said this before. The enemy don't play fair, EVER. The enemy will use whatever he can to distract you from remembering that Jesus is in the boat with you. He will try to add people to your boat. Your parents, friends, siblings... etc.... can you guess how he uses them against your faith? He will make it seem to you like they are drowning. Knowing that your heart would go out to them to help them. Because that's how God made you. A caring loving person. But the word says that your heart will deceive you. Don't believe me?

Jeremiah 17:9(a)

“The human heart is the most deceitful of all things,

Because of our hearts and our love for people, we can be so easily manipulated into things that seem good, but in the long run are not. Especially when those we love most are our own family. I'm not saying NOT to care about those we love. What I am saying is how much can your boat take on, before it is unable to be navigated in any direction?

Suddenly there is too much holding on to the boat. The storm comes and the water (issues of life) are growing and now entering your boat. But you are trying desperately to hold on to those you have connected to your boat. You can't just let them go now. They may fall. But guess what, your primary responsibility, your #1 ministry is falling.


Have you connected them to a falling anchor? Were you ever strong enough to navigate these seas before you connected them? Were you strong enough and had a strategy of how to navigate the seas before you brought the children on the boat? Did you ever learn how to navigate the boat on your own? 

Hey! Did you forget that Jesus has been on the boat this whole time? Taking a nap?  Maybe you forgot. Maybe when you got overwhelmed with the issues of life and balancing all the different things you had going on and the distractions of the how do it do this and that... maybe that's when you forgot that Jesus was on the boat.

But are you going to act like the disciples did? Are you going to wake Jesus up in a panic and ask Him if He cares if you and your family die??? Are you going to forget that He has the power to tell the seas to be still? Come on, you KNOW He cares. He just wants you to trust Him. This is the time where we need to go ahead and assess what we have done. How many people have we attached to our boat, and how many people have we inadvertently/unknowingly allowed them to attach themselves to our boat. Now we have work to do to in order to detach and remove the weights that so easily beset us.

Hebrews 12:1

 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,

Whether they be family, friends, sin, anything that is keeping me from being able to navigate the boat with my spouse and for my family. I'm not saying remove them and let them drown. You have to remove them and send them off in prayer. AND KEEP THEM IN YOUR PRAYERS.

When we have finally learned how to navigate the boat on our own, with only spousal help, IN UNISON WITH EACH OTHER, then we will be able to take on other things. But in the meanwhile, we can only attach a certain amount of things while still navigating our own household through the seas of life. The things or people we attach to our boat will watch us and learn by our example, how they too can navigate their own boats, or try again in their own boats with their family and be successful and in turn do the same for someone else.

I hope you all caught a message in the spirit for your own situations. I love you all and I Pray you are all amazingly blessed!!!