The Mariner’s Question
By J. Brad Chapman
What’s the gear or rigging
that a grand ol’ sailing ship
Would have as the most
useful thing aboard?
Ponder now the question,
‘bout the mighty sailing ships
Until the answer’s
thoroughly explored.
Would it be the glamorous
sail, stretched tightly in the wind?
For without sail there’d be
no forward motion –
Or would it be the helm,
standing stately on the bridge?
For lacking wheel, she’d
roam all o’re the ocean.
Could it be the sheets that
link the sailor to the sail
To keep the tell-tails
smooth and none a-flutter?
Or would it be the rigid
mast that holds the billowed sail?
Or be the ship’s
direction-giving rudder?
All these things are
important, and they serve their usefulness,
When she’s sailing fast and
steady in the groove.
But other circumstances
make us see things differently,
And in a way we’ve never
known our hearts are moved.
You see, when a sailing
ship, in heavy seas and wind
Hits rocky shoal with
screech and ghastly thump,
The most important items go
from rudder, sheet and sail
And become the meek and
lowly ol’ bilge pump.
Sinking men in sinking
ships will cry and curse and plead,
To keep them from the
bottom of the sea.
But when they finally see
beyond the glamour of the sails,
The pump becomes their life,
and sweat the fee.
The Savior’s like a bilge
pump, for blinded eyes will finally see
That He, too, is the only
One that saves.
But we supply the muscle
power to work the saving pump,
To show faith in what the
Savior freely gave.
So if you hit the rocky
shoal, out on the sea of life
And floundering, cry out
with fear and rage,
Think not the glamour of
the sails, but lowly ol’ bilge pump,
Whose one and only purpose
is to save.
So weigh the heavy anchor
and with compass set your course,
With sheet in hand, trim
true the mighty sail.
Remember, friend: Sometime, somewhere, we hit the treacherous
shoals,
But our Savior’s life was
spent to help us bail.
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