Sailing into the unknown

As the sun rises over the bay, I am alone with a boat and a boyish longing for adventure.  But being both far past boyhood and a restricted distance from the boat, I am content to have my adventure be landlocked one.  Footstep wandering and an active imagination for me!

I am thinking about ships and the courage it takes to sail out into the watery void.  We are in St. Augustine, so naturally, my thoughts go back to the time when ocean voyages required stalwart souls, full of courage and faith to reach the New World.  It wasn’t just that they hoped they would get there.  They had to trust that a “there” was waiting.

Yesterday, while wandering in a Catholic cathedral, I came across this wall piece.  No placard explained who the sailor was or why he opted for dogs rather than sailors as his shipmates.

But it reminded me of that great early Celtic Christian, Brendan the Navigator, who is reported to have embarked on his own sea journey of faith, taking with him a few brothers to find the “Land of Promise of the Saints.”  Legend has it they had a number of fantastical adventures.  There’s no proof that this is the actual head of the sea monster they met.

Adventure awaits all of us.  In our age of information, there’s little left of the Great Unknown.  But following Christ is an invitation into the Daily Unknown, where surprise and opportunity abound – in unexpected conversations, in moments of inspired prayer, in opportunities to serve in his name, and in reminders of the creativity and goodness of God.

And like those sailors of old, we have to let go of our comfort.  There is little chance of exploration (and the strengthened faith that results) if we’re trapped by our favorite chairs.  I was amused to see this boat yesterday and thought it was a good visual for too many Western Christians (including, too often, me): self-powered, built for comfort, room for one.  It’s not a vessel intended for the open seas.

So, with God’s help, I will unmoor my little ship of faith.  And I will set sail each day with Christ the Navigator, going where he would lead. 

Even into the unknown.

Echoing the brothers’ response to Brendan: Jesus, your will is our will also. Have we not committed into your hands even our very bodies?  We are, therefore, ready to go with you, whether unto life or unto death, provided only we find such to be the will of God.