Marooned

A man sat on a large mound of sand in a chair totally surrounded
by a deep ocean. He had been shipwrecked after crashing his
small catamaran.

He was relieved to be out of the icy waters; although, he could
swim. He solemnly took in his fate. He stubbornly refused to
leave his chair. He had prayed many days for God to make him a
millionaire and was frustrated that he found himself in such a
predicament. He sustained himself by fishing with a makeshift
fishing pole and cooking the catch of the day and eating few
berries that grew nearby.

Over the months that he was marooned, he saw many sailors and
fisherman fall overboard but they were too far away to help.
Finally one day a fisherman came so close he couldn’t help but
stretch out his hand and the weight pulled him into the water as
well. He managed to pull himself and the man up on the mound of
sand. As soon as this occurred, a helicopter appeared from
nowhere, the pilot left the fisherman behind, but not before
handing him a thick envelope. “Hey wait” the man yelled, but the
helicopter vanished as quickly as it had come.

The man was amazed to find $10,000 dollars in the envelope.
The next time a fisherman fell overboard the man eagerly leaped
in the water and rescued him. He remembered all his prayers to
God to make him a millionaire. When the helicopter came this
time he asked the pilot who had sent him. There was no answer.

He more curiously wanted to know why the pilot kept taking the
fishermen and leaving him behind. Again there was no answer.
Finally just before the pilot left, he asked the man if he knew
what was on the back of his shirt. Curious himself, he took off
his shirt and read the back where these words were written:
"Lifeguard-Pay him $10,000 each time he saves a life."

Often God has blessings waiting for us if we just stretch
ourselves beyond our comfort zone. Many times we waste all our
energy trying to move ourselves to a situation that we deem more
desirable, but it’s not where God needs us to be.

We miss the blessings we have asked God for trying to change our
titles. God may have given us titles like "Husband" and
"Father" or "Neighbor" or "Wife" and we try to shed these titles
for titles of our own making.

Pray and stay in tune to what God has for you so that you have
the appropriate title and are in the right place at the right
time. More often than asking for money, we ask for peace, joy
and happiness: yet, we put ourselves in situations where this is
least likely to occur. God’s quiet voice often says "move on."
Sometimes He says, "stay just where you are."

The End