I took this picture of the Marina on Kodiak Island at dawn. I wondered which boats would leave the harbor and which would stay where they were - tied to the docks, sheltered and safe.
For most, it wouldn't be a question of whether they could be made ready. The majority were docked because stormy seas were predicted. The boats weren't going anywhere unless somebody decided it was necessary to leave the shelter of the Marina.
Prior to launch a decision is made. Deciding if we're going, is the first step in leaving the dock, but the question of going is buried so deep in the rubric of the launch it's hardly noticed.
It's essential; the decision to launch must be made, or no launch happens.
So the question begs to be asked, "What prompts such a decision? What motivates action? Why would anyone set out to face stormy seas? Why take up the mission and fling yourself into the cause?"
I think the answer is found in one word; that word is "clarity."
When you clearly see what matters most, when you experience the soul-shaking truth and know first-hand the importance of the mission, you do what's required to engage. Knowing what matters most is what matters first, because knowing fuels action. And I'm not talking about mere head-knowledge when I mention "knowing." I'm talking about the personal experience of "knowing" as a deep-unto-deep experience: it's intimate, thorough and personal.
- It's the clarity you describe when you declare to, "know that you know that you know." That clear "knowing" triggers your launch. It's a certainty that fuels you as your mission unfolds.
- It's the kind of certainty that triggered Rob Wegner's decision to serve Michiana at GCC for twenty years. Rob has clarity.
- It's the "knowing" that Sheila and I have experienced for 36 years of marriage, family and ministry together. We have clarity.
Conviction sustains devotion, and conviction is embedded in experiencing God - which explains more than Rob's loyalty or Sheila's fidelity. It makes plain the remarkable faithfulness of God's people across the centuries. When people experience God, their decision to launch is inevitable.
Such was the experience of Charles Haddon Spurgeon, one of the greatest pulpiteers of the 19th century. In 1850, the teenage Spurgeon was converted during a service at a Primitive Methodist church, as a lay preacher spoke on Isaiah 45:22: “Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is none else.”
Spurgeon described his experience in his Autobiography:
"[The speaker] had not much to say, thank God, for that compelled him to keep on repeating his text, and there was nothing needed — by me, at any rate — except his text. Then, stopping, he pointed to where I was sitting under the gallery, and he said, “That young man there looks very miserable”…and he shouted, as I think only a Primitive Methodist can, “Look! Look, young man! Look now!”….
Then I had this vision — not a vision to my eyes, but to my heart. I saw what a Savior Christ was…. I no sooner saw whom I was to believe than I also understood what it was to believe, and I did believe in one moment."
Such vision! Such clarity!
It's no wonder the experience of God transforms our thinking, informs our decisions and demands action. What can we do, but embark on the mission for which we were made?
So we're launching GCC's Early Learning Center, the Atrium/Commons, the LaPorte Campus, Middle School Summer Camp, SpringHill Day Camps and Mission trips to Nicaragua, Chicago and Michiana.
We have clarity so the decisions are easy...even when the voyage is difficult.
It's time to launch.
Luke 5:4b - Jesus said, “Launch out into the deep."
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