Pastoral Letter
Dear Friends,
There was an officer in the navy who had always dreamed of commanding a battleship. He finally achieved that dream and was given commission of the newest and proudest ship in the fleet. One stormy night, as the ship ploughed through the seas, the captain was on duty on the bridge when off to the port he spotted a strange light rapidly closing with his own vessel. Immediately he ordered the signalman to flash the message to the unidentified craft, "Alter your course ten degrees to the south." Only a moment had passed before the reply came: "Alter your course ten degrees to the north." Determined that his ship would take a backseat to no other, the captain snapped out the order to be sent: "Alter your course ten degrees--I am the CAPTAIN!" The response beamed back, "Alter your course ten degrees--I am Seaman Third Class Jones." Now infuriated, the captain grabbed the signal light with his own hands and fired off: "Alter your course, I am a battleship." The reply came back. "Alter your course, I am a lighthouse."
Just like that officer we often like to think we are completely in charge of our own lives, yet trouble can so easily be lurking ready to pounce on us and to throw us off course.
We have seen just recently how the terrible rampage of Derrick Bird can have terrible consequences upon the lives of ordinary people going about their daily lives without any thought of the danger just about to descend upon them.
The question that many would have asked at that moment was "Where is God? Why didn't he intervene and stop the carnage?" Well, the answer must surely be that God was there, and despite our despair at His seeming inability to do anything about evil, we must take heed of what the great preacher and theologian A W Tozer once wrote:
'The whole history of the world is discovered to be but a contest between the wisdom of God and the cunning of Satan and fallen men. The outcome of the contest is not in doubt.'
The great John Wesley put it another way: 'Only when God hath brought to light all the hidden things of darkness, whosoever were the actors therein, will it be seen that wise and good were all his ways, that he saw through the thick cloud, and governed all things by the wise counsels of his own will, that nothing was left to chance, or the caprice of men, but God disposed all strongly and sweetly, and wrought all into one connected chain of justice, mercy, and truth.'
John Wesley's point is that God wants the very best for our lives. He loves us more than we will ever fully appreciate or understand. Each one of us are precious to him, therefore we have got to try to learn to trust him with every aspect of our lives, even when things seem very difficult or even tragic. We are not his robots, in fact our freedom is precious to him, but that means he has given us freedom to make mistakes in our lives and to experience trouble and difficulties. He knows the pains and suffering that we experience and he wants to be with us, to share those difficulties with us, and to bring us comfort, strength and hope.
Jesus Christ said "Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies. Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. Indeed the very hairs on your head are all numbered. Don't be afraid you are worth more than many sparrows." Luke 12:6/7
May God bless you all,