To
boldly go, where no-one has gone before !
When
I was growing up, my parents and grandparents would take me and my two sisters
on holidays to Ifracombe on the North Devon Coast, and more often or not we
would go by the MV Balmoral, which would sail between Swansea and Ilfracombe in
the Summer months, and while there go for boat trips that would sail from
Ilfracombe harbour, I have many happy memories of going there as child and
early teenager, because of these memories I enjoy spending time by the Coast and now live in a Seaside Resort,
although I have not been on a boat trip for a while, I'm fascinated both by
boats and the Sea.
I
remember a few years ago, while on holidays in Porthleven, Cornwall, spending
time in the National Maritime Museum in Falmouth and had an interesting and
enjoyable time there, although one thing I noticed more than others that the
boats on display, none of them were in their original context , it was
fascinating looking at these boats and reading all about them, but all them weren't
doing the job they were designed and build for, yes, being on the water.
Porthleven is a lovely, fishing village situated near Helston, and has a very
picturesque harbour and I noticed that all the boats were doing the purpose
they were designed and build for. Like other seaside holiday destinations,
Porthleven has several shops selling goods to tourists, some of these shops
sell model ships, they look exactly like the originals, but they could never
do, the same job as the original ! they were just for display
For
centuries Great Britain has been a maritime nation, and many of our national
heroes have been sailors, from the historic figures like Sir Francis Drake,
Horatio Nelson, Captain James Cook, to the fictional heroes such as Horatio
Hornblower, many of our wars and the battles that we fought have involved
fighting on Sea, from fighting the Spanish Armada, The Battle from Trafalgar,
The Battle Of Jutland, The Battle of the River Plate. Most of our imports and
exports travel by sea, the sea has important part to play into our history,
present and future as Great Britain. The sea routes used today both for
business and pleasure had to be discovered, and the ships that travel those
routes use sea-charts to show them where they are going and how to get there,
from the smallest cabin cruiser to the mighty container ship. Yet someone had
to go out and navigate the sea in order for these sea-charts to be produced.
Many of these men, such as Sir Francis Drake and Captain James Cook, stand tall
throughout our history.
We
see in our Bibles, countless references to sailing and to sea, from Noah's
Voyage, to Jonah and we know that the Lord's Disciples Peter, Andrew, James and
John were fisherman on the Sea of Galilee, and many of the early missionaries
such as Paul, Barnabas, Silas, Mark, Timothy and Luke often travelled by sea to
spread the Good News of the Gospel of Salvation to the people of the known
world. In Ephesians 4:12, one of the meanings of the Greek Word we translate as
equip is prepare a ship for voyage (one of the other meanings, is to set a
broken bone).
In
the 19th and 20th centuries many people left these shores and other shores to
travel the world, to spread the Good News of the Gospel of Salvation, following
the example of men like William Carey, John Wesley and George Whitfield, I
remember growing up in small Pentecostal Church in the South Wales Valley's,
and hearing about many men and women who went forth as missionaries, and being
inspired by the reports that came back from our missionaries in places like
Nigeria and India, I had the privilege not only of having a retired missionary
as one of my Sunday School Teachers, and having two former missionary couples
as my Pastor and his wife , but also being related to one of the earliest
Pentecostal Pioneers from the United Kingdom to Nigeria, who in his later years
inspired me to seek and serve God. While a student in Bible School, several of
my lecturers had been missionaries, and I know how much they inspired me and my
fellow students.
In
the early part of the 21st Century, many of us may not have the same
opportunities to travel to other lands following in the footsteps of our
brothers and sisters who went before us, there are still opportunities we can
take, perhaps in short-term mission trips, we have advancements in technology
they didn't have anything like the Internet, I remember being in School in the 1980's
and never thought then I could not talk to people in places like America and
Australia via a computer and a phone-line but to count them as friends as well.
On the other hand we don't have to travel to other lands to be a missionary, we
can be missionaries in our villages, towns, suburbs, cities but most
importantly in our communities. I know that in the coming days, the Lord will
inspire many of us to become missionaries on other towns, cities and regions
throughout our own lands but other lands as well.
In
the last 12-18 months, I have been greatly inspired by the writings of people
like Alan J Roxburgh, Alan Hirsch, Neil Cole, Martin Robinson and Floyd
McClung, especially when it comes to being Missional and being challenged by
the concept of mission dei or God's Mission. I may not have the opportunities
to travel to other lands to spread the Good News of the Gospel of Salvation,
but it doesn't mean that there are no opportunities here in the United Kingdom.
I've just read something that David Cameron, the Prime Minister here in the UK, said about Broken Britain and Social Recession. (If you
would like to read more about Missional, I strongly recommend (Introducing the
Missional Church by Alan J Roxburgh). Both my prayer and desire is to see God
raise up His People here in the UK and other lands to see the spiritual needs
in our own lands, and be willing to follow His direction either to pray,
support or go, hopefully to do all, some of us He will send to our neighbours,
some of us He will send to our streets, some to our towns and cities, but all
He asks are we willing to go to those He will send us ?
Some
of us in coming days, He will ask to be Pioneers, and to go where no-one has gone
before or for some time, to break into new territory or to go and re-claim
territory. I'm now going to share some Scriptures with you, and my Prayer is
that God will use these Scriptures to challenge you for the first time or to
challenge for you for the thousandth time, and follow his direction, which will
not only impact your own live, but impact the lives of others, those who is
sending you to.
If
you're wondering if my title sounds familiar, it's from Star Trek, the days
ahead will be days of challenge, courage and grace but most importantly of
opportunity, and I pray that we take the courage and the grace, to take the
opportunities those challenges will present to us.
Isa
6:8-9a TNIv
8
Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who
will go for us?"
And I said, "Here am I. Send
me!" 9 He said, "Go and tell this people
Matt
28:19-20 NIv
19
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in [a] the name
of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
20
and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with
you always, to the very end of the age."
Romans
10:14015a NCV
14 But before people can ask the Lord for
help, they must believe in him; and before they can believe in him, they must
hear about him; and for them to hear about the Lord, someone must tell them;15
and before someone can go and tell them, that person must be sent.
Yours
by His Grace
Blair
Humphreys
