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| Photo source: http://surfboardline.com/gerry-lopez/ |
Last week, I got to go paddle boarding at Watts Bar Lake in
East Tennessee. I was visiting my uncle and it was his first time paddle
boarding. The paddle board he had borrowed from a friend was missing its fin,
and my spare fin did not fit the fin box of his board, so we had to make do
without one.
I let him use my board so he could have one that was
properly outfitted, while I tried to manage with the board that had no fin. It’s
amazing the difference an experience can be when you’re not properly equipped
versus when you are.
The purpose of a fin for a paddle board is to make the board
go straight and keep it stable. I quickly found out what it was like to try and
paddle without a fin: my board wanted to
go in every direction other than straight! Add to that the wind we were
experiencing and I was just being blown around in circles unable to control the
board at all. It felt like when you’re in a bumper car and you start spinning
around. No matter what you try to do to try to make the car stop spinning, not
much really works. I wasn’t able to get to where I was trying to go, and if I
did, it took A LOT longer without the fin.
That’s what our spiritual life can be when the Holy Spirit
is not living inside of us. We are not properly equipped to remain on a
straight path. We’ll go in every direction, jumping from one new “self-help”
gimmick to the next, oftentimes finding ourselves wasting time just going
around in circles with no real results. And we can’t stop our spinning in
circles in our own strength. We need the Holy Spirit to stabilize us.
How do you get the Holy Spirit inside you? It’s pretty
simple. You just admit your need for Him and accept the invitation He’s already
extended to you, and in turn invite Him into your heart. He does the rest. And
you can rest in that, trusting He will direct you on a path that is straight
and stable.
