That's What the Channel Markers Are For
A good friend of mine is a sailor. By sailor, I don't mean someone who pilots motor-powered boats. He is a purist who prefers the song of the winds filling the sails to the din and throb of a motor in his boat.
Once while sailing in Florida's Tampa Bay, he somehow sailed outside the currents and ran aground. He was anchored fast as the sand and mud imprisoned the keel. Nothing in his experience and skills as a sailor would free his boat from the mud's grasp. The only obvious solution was a tow off the sandbar by a wretched powerboat.
As he contemplated his plight, another boater passed. The other sailor hollered across the water, "Are you aground?" My friend affirmed his situation. The boater condescendingly called out, "That's what the channel markers are for!"
My ancestral home, Tilghman Island, Maryland, was once the base of a significant fishing fleet, scouring the waters of the Chesapeake Bay for delicacies fit to be royal cuisine. Watermen like my grandfather knew the importance of the channel markers. As a child, hearing the mournful moan of the foghorn reminded me that even the most skilled boater remains ever alert to unseen dangers in the fog.
Christians, like sailors, need channel markers.
We need the admonitions of Scripture—the clear proclamation of the biblical story. The fog of complacency has lulled many believers into a false sense of safety and security. Challenging currents make navigation through the seascapes of cultural change an exercise in vigilance. New sailors (new believers and recent converts) need training in navigation skills if they are to successfully plot a course toward Christ-likeness.
Once again this issue of Holiness Today offers insights into practical holiness that translate into strategies of exciting, victorious living. In a very real sense, these articles focusing on lay ministry, consecration, and prayer are channel markers, reminding us of the truths by which we can live out God's call to holy discipleship. In this issue, Holiness Today unveils "Perspective," a new feature containing faith-building stories.
On-line at www.holinesstoday.org, we are publishing our subscribers in the "P.S." column. This is your opportunity to share an account from the context of your own spiritual journey. I encourage you to check out these two new features. As you read the pages of this issue, my prayer is that the articles will help you discern God's way for your life.
David J. Felter, Editor in chief
Holiness Today, Marc/April 2005
Please note: This article was originally published in 2005. All facts, figures, and titles were accurate to the best of our knowledge at that time but may have since changed.
