Six Ships.

Six ships set out sailing.  None is dependent on each other except by choice.  Each could go their own way, but a treasure ties them together.  The treasure comes with responsibility.  The treasure has provided for those at sea and now it is time to return the care.  Each can remove their claim on the treasure and also remove the burden it carries.  Six ships set out sailing, though not bound by law or oath, each has accepted responsibility for the safe passage of the treasure.  Six ships sail in unknown, uncharted, dangerous and beautiful waters.

My siblings and I are on a journey together.

As we all interact with each other, sometimes wondering what the other is thinking, sometimes being too crude or too sensitive, I am reminded of something C.S. Lewis wrote about in mere Christianity.  It has to do with how we go about our voyage.

The metaphor told by C.S. Lewis to describe ancient ethics consists of three questions concerning voyage. These three considerations are like the three things a fleet of ships is told by its sailing orders:

1) The ships must know how to avoid bumping into each other.

2) They must know how to stay shipshape and avoid sinking.

3) And most important of all, they must know why the fleet is at sea in the first place.

In our current situation this metaphor is extremely relevant.  All six of us must know how to navigate around each other.  We MUST take care of ourselves and stay healthy for the sake of each other as well as ourselves.  And we must know why we are there in the first place.  In our situation, it is a perpetual reminding of this last point that is sustaining us...we remind each other why we are here.

We are learning day by day more about ourselves and each other.  Each of us has a pretty independent streak, but in our current situation it seems that we have chosen as a group to trust and depend on each other.  So far I find myself in a perpetual state of gratitude, in spite of how difficult the circumstances might be.  I get something different from each of them, but only if I open myself up to trust and be trusted.  We each have something to offer the other...something, perhaps that we can't get on our own.  I now have access to 5 different Points of View, 5 particular giftings and 5 brains that know my brain but aren't quite like my brain.  Without trust, these gifts are useless.  

One way to help each other trust is to be predictable.  I ride my bike in the city daily.  A new rider on the road might think it is their job to stay out of the way of traffic.  It makes sense.  A new rider might move over instead of staying in his lane, thinking that he is avoiding trouble.  In reality, the best thing a rider can do is to pick a line and stick with it.  Be predictable.  Even though you might feel exposed or in the way, the best thing you can do for others sometimes is just to let them know where you are and how you are going to proceed.  Weaving in an out of traffic puts a burden on everyone else.  It causes wreckage.  This is something I think each of my siblings is doing a great job of communicating:  "Hey, this is where I am.  This is where I'm heading."  It helps each of us to make our own decisions, knowing where the other is.  

And we each have to be aware of our gifts and our weaknesses in order to serve each other.  I worked in the restaurant business for a long time.  During one of my stints, while working at a pizza place, I was having some communication issues with a kitchen manager.  When it got busy and I went to the kitchen to help him, he got surly and resentful.  Over a couple weeks of this, each of us frustrated at the other, we finally got into it.  After an extended discussion, we finally got to the heart of things.  When I went to help him, I thought I was being pre-emptively helpful.  But for him, it wasn't an issue of pride as I suspected, it was an issue of rhythm.  "Scott, I can't go out front and help you.  The best thing I can do to serve everyone in this restaurant is be perfect in my process.  In my kitchen, I know where everyone is, how they are doing and what they are capable of.  When you insert yourself into that process, you effect my ability to execute.  At some point I will need your help and ask for it.  But the best way for me to serve you, is to do what I do best."  He didn't need me and he couldn't do what I do in the Front of the House.  So the best option in his eyes was to be the very best at what he was doing for the benefit of all.  That is  a pretty profound realization.  Physically helping the kitchen manager was a short sighted fix.  And for other managers it was welcome and needed.  But the best thing I could do for this particular manager was to put him in position to execute to his already high standards.  And then over time we could get into the subtler issues of why he was resistant to help.  It took understanding to develop Trust.  It took communication to get to understanding.

Some of us have a strong desire to help, while some see that not requiring help is the best way to serve.  We all have to deal with our own internal wiring, the healthy and unhealthy patterns we have. The best each of us can do is to play to our strengths while surrendering to the group.  Being Firm, or Tenacious, or Organized, or Encouraging, or Emotional, or Stoic, or even Contrary all has it's place.  Love is the constant thread that makes it all possible.

1.  My brother and sisters are all on a journey in which we are bound together.  We must first know how to keep from bumping into each other, to keep from wrecking each other.

2.  To best serve each other, we must know how to take care of ourselves, to keep ourselves in good working order.

3.  And we must be reminded of our purpose, not only in the matter at hand, but in service to the family as a whole.  We must also know that we are in service of a loving and worthy God.

Without the trial of these current stormy seas, I don't think I could appreciate the fullness of how miraculous it is to be a part of this group.  There is so much pain and heartache and guilt, but it is all buffered by a tender and loving support that overwhelms me and keeps me afloat.  My siblings are less than perfect and we are so clumsy in our cumulative efforts, but because the Love is strong, and we are in the care of Jesus, all things seem to be working for the good.  Don't get me wrong, things are not good, but they are working for good.  Somehow that makes sense to me.  None of us is required to be strong, just present.  None of us is required to be wise, but unknowing humility seems a better course.  As always, availability is greater than ability.  

Psalm 107:23
Some went out on the sea in ships;
    they were merchants on the mighty waters.
24 They saw the works of the Lord,
    his wonderful deeds in the deep.
25 For he spoke and stirred up a tempest
    that lifted high the waves.
26 They mounted up to the heavens and went down to the depths;
    in their peril their courage melted away.
27 They reeled and staggered like drunkards;
    they were at their wits’ end.
28 Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble,
    and he brought them out of their distress.
29 He stilled the storm to a whisper;
    the waves of the sea[b] were hushed.
30 They were glad when it grew calm,
    and he guided them to their desired haven.
31 Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love
    and his wonderful deeds for mankind.

Math: A Metaphor.

Ahhh, the metaphor.  It gets so close and yet always disappoints.  But what choice do we have but to use metaphors.  Everything is representative.  Language itself is only a representation of our thoughts, expressions and feelings.  They cannot be the actual thoughts, expressions and feelings themselves.  I've often wondered what the internal conversations of a feral mind might be, someone who was raised without language.  There must be some "language" present to represent thoughts.

Metaphor is like waking from a dream.  As soon as you start to explain it and describe it, the original experience begins to dissolve.  In fact you are likely to insert meaning and descriptions that were not originally there.  There is evidence that every time you access a memory, you change it.  So, metaphors cannot be trusted completely, nor our own memories...but still we try.  Some one really skilled with language and metaphor cannot speak the Truth, they can only point to it.  The value of that language and metaphor is in its ability to speak to the Truth within each of our own existence and experience.  If there is a Truth within each of us, the best we can do is try to describe it or point to it in the world.  "Life is but a dream!"  There is a way that that statement is true, in feeling and experience, but we could never say that the statement itself is true.

I say all this to preface the lackluster metaphor that I am about to use.  Math is such a fantastic metaphor because if it's very nature.  It deals with solid things, true provable things.  Yet the equations themselves are mere metaphor...pointers to the truth.  If we were to never exist, if there were no creatures to discover Math, the principles of Math would still exist throughout the Universe.

So, I've already used too many words and metaphors and haven't even begun my point.  But here goes:  Word Problems.  A traditional school exercise Word Problem makes no sense without the context and concept of Math.  If a person had gone their whole life and never learned anything about addition, subtraction, multiplication and division and such, then presenting a Word problem (Katie leaves on a Train going X miles an hours, etc..) might appear to be a normal sentence, but also appear to be complete nonsense.  Such, for the purposes of my efforts here, is the Word of God.  Some have read the Bible and have seen God there, but frankly most that read the Bible or verses do not see God.  Some get Math without explanation, most do not.  My exposure to scripture as a young man left me cold, confused and did more to create rebellion than wonder.  Life has a way of teaching you though.  Learning to add and subtract is a part of an intentional effort.  And until we get those concepts down, we cannot proceed to the next level.  Reading the Bible without a learning sense of Justice, Mercy, Sacrifice, Love, Faith, Law, Guilt, Good, Evil, Shame, Forgiveness, Truth and Beauty leaves you ill equipped to get some meaning and context from the Word.  Some believe and obey because they were told to.  Some never believe in spite of what has been shown to them.  My point is that until you can begin to understand the fallen nature of man, the perfect nature of God, the creation that makes humans both the Apex and the great disappointment of the universe, you cannot process what is in the Word.  Until you can conceive that there may be a Love greater than your ability to comprehend, you cannot have the truth of the Word come alive in you.  The Word will only start to makes sense when you start to concede the possibility that there is something greater behind it.  Like Math has always existed, so too the Reality of a Creator has always existed.  The Bible is the ultimate word problem, which tells the story of a Perfect God and an Imperfect Creation.  However you set up the equation in your own work, the only answer that can bring balance must include  Jesus = Salvation .   But there again, Jesus only makes sense if you know that you need a savior.  The best I can do is point to the Truth in the World, in the Word and in us and Hope and Pray that a connection is made.