farewell to the sea-farers

Once upon a time there was a young man named Ben who married a beautiful woman, and by beautiful, I mean beautiful. Now Ben worked for a collegiate ministry called the Navigators. Apparently they liked sailboats and to help people navigate the waves of life. If I had time, I would tell you all about Ben's adventures on the sea with his fellow pirates, but that's another chapter. After Ben's two-year commitment to the sea-faring regime came to a close he looked up to his Father and said, "Father, I would love it if I could continue hanging out with these friends from foreign lands. I want to get more involved in my local body of believers. It would be great if my wife could continue learning in her household seminary. That would mean that we need to continue to reside in the Little Apple. Can all these dreams come true? Will you please help us, for I know that You abound with goodness toward Your children?" At this point, Ben had very little idea as to how this might turn out in a desirable fashion. In fact, he suffered much anxiety over the issue. You would never know the inner turmoil he had at first glance. It is at this time that the way began to become clear. The pastor at the local community where Ben and his wife worshiped approached Ben with an idea. The idea goes something like this. Ben works on staff at the church, New Hope Community Church to be exact. His role at the church will be to help the New Hope friends to reach out to the foreign friends. When Ben first heard this idea he realized that the same idea was already floating around in his own mind. He just needed someone to put words and feet to the idea. It seems like Father had once again proven to be faithful in provision. Ben looked up again to his Father and said, "Father, thank you for answering my feeble prayers. I don't mean to ask too much but I know that You love to give good gifts to Your children so I thought I'd go ahead and ask. My wife would really enjoy being able to spend more time learning at her household seminary as well as spending time with me and my foreign friends. We want to tell them about You. It would be wonderful if she could quit her job of providing an expensive place to live for people and could begin providing a cup of coffee for people instead. Or maybe she could be a stand-in for teachers that can't attend school every once in awhile. At any rate, You know our hearts and needs better than we do ourselves. We trust You with this as well. Oh yeah, and can You please continue to provide the bacon for us, the daily bacon that is...and bread I suppose too?" Ben is still waiting back on these last two requests but is confident that his Father will pull through. The rest of the book has already been written from front to back. In fact, it was even written when there was no time. But now there is time and we are subject to it so I have to wait on the next chapter. And so do you. But I can assure you that it'll be good. It'll have its fair share of surprises. It'll have victory and defeat. It'll have interesting characters. But the hero will remain the same. Somehow, though, Ben will emerge as a sort of hero too. Perhaps you will as well. One day we'll read many completed stories together. Until that day, read on.