NO. 1038 - DID YOU MISS THE BOAT?

No. 1038

Jim Davidson -- NEWSPAPER COLUMN

DID YOU MISS THE BOAT?

Do you ever feel like you missed the boat? While this is just a figure of speech, many people feel like life, and real success, has passed them by and they simply missed the boat. Where they are now is nowhere near where they thought they would be when they were younger.
If this is your case, take heart, for I have some exciting news for you. During my prayer time this morning I got to thinking about our church services. At the end, an “invitation” is always extended to those in the congregation who wish to make a decision. The decision could be to accept Christ, move their membership, request prayer for themselves, or express other needs or concerns. Quite often we have those who come to rededicate themselves to the Lord.
In the case of those who wish to rededicate themselves, it simply means they have experienced a time in their lives when they strayed from the path, have fallen out of fellowship or into sin, and the Holy Spirit has been dealing with them. The good news is that we serve a living and loving God who is quick to forgive and restore us to a full and happy relationship with Him. All we have to do is repent and sincerely ask him to forgive us. Isn’t that great news? It means that we do not ever again have to be burdened down with the past. The sad news is that millions of people who don’t know the Lord live this way, day after day, and they feel like the weight of the world is riding on their shoulders.
I am convinced this is one reason so many people commit suicide. When the burden of living a life without purpose becomes too great, they lose hope. Life, for them, does not seem worth living. Believe it or not, when I started to write this column these thoughts were not on my mind. I wanted to talk about those people who are full of regrets because they feel like they did not get enough education, were not blessed with good looks, grew up on the wrong side of the tracks, or saw many other reasons why they are not successful. In other words, they feel like they have missed the boat.
Here is the good news, and news that is laced with hope. First, when we have the right relationship with the Lord and know where we stand, it frees us up to develop and use all our God-given potential to achieve most anything we really want to achieve. Of course, there are limiting factors like age, physical health, economic conditions, destructive habits, and sometimes a negative, defeatist attitude. The thought I want to plant deeply and firmly in your mind is that “when the going gets tough, the tough get going.” It is my prayer for you, if you feel like you have missed the boat, that never again will you use these things as an excuse for not developing and using the God-given potential with which you were born.
I hope you will just see things realistically for what they really are. If you are an American, you live in the most successful and prosperous nation in the history of the world. There are more opportunities here than anywhere on earth. If you lack education, make plans to get it. If you need a job, resolve that you are going to get one. Just understand that it is no disgrace to start at the bottom and work your way up. Just make some solid plans to achieve whatever you wish to accomplish and stay with it until you do. What I am talking about is a change of heart, mind and attitude to see yourself as the very special person you are.
If this sounds like Pollyanna to you, it is not. There are millions of people in our country who have felt as you do, but have overcome all odds to achieve the kind of life they wish to live, and now have all the rewards they desire. The only vote that really counts is the one looking back at you from the mirror.
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(EDITOR’S NOTE: THE DEAL OF THE CENTURY – Begin your day on a positive note – 365 days for $12. This will benefit the Bookcase for Every Child project. Go to www.apositivemomentwithjim.com to subscribe.)