I was reading a book recently called “Bourne to Rally” the autobiography of the late Possum Bourne. In the book there are many photos of Peggy Bourne his wife. Possum Bourne died in a tragic accident in April 2003 during the “Race to the Sky” at Cardrona in Otago. Now 19 years later Peggy Bourne is married to Mark Mitchell our local National Party MP for Rodney. I was musing to myself how much things have changed in 19 years and how different our culture is now from what it was in 2003. Everything is changing so rapidly.
Then I sensed God asking me this simple question: What is your anchor? What was holding me in place despite the chaos around me, with the world in disarray. Covid-19 is still out of control in several countries around the world. There are still high levels of tension and anxiety in our own country. Some families are stressed with job losses, redundancies, the price of petrol continually growing, climbing inflation and many other scenarios. Food banks are operating to the max to keep up with the demand.
So back to the question: What is my anchor? For me an anchor is a very solid and tangible thing. It holds a boat in place in all conditions, so for me I needed a solid answer. My conclusion to the question came quite quickly after that. The answer is simply the Word of God, the Bible. That is what holds me in place and anchors me in difficult times. My mind went back to the opening verses of the Gospel of John, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). John then moves onto say in verse 14, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling amongst us.” The centrality of Jesus is evident throughout the Bible!
These are very real, visual statements to me and such a good prompt from God about keeping my focus on the word of Truth every day in these troubled times. As I interact with the Bible, I am in a sense interacting with God Himself in a very reassuring way. Daily I read, quote, speak the Word of God over myself, my family and PK. I love to use the Word prophetically in agreement with God and see the Lord move. When it comes to Bibles, I have an abundance, I did a quick tally and I have 12 different Bibles in my office. I have used them all in one way or another over my 31-year Christian walk.
Discussion questions:
- What is your anchor?
- How does your faith support you in our challenging times?
- What does your walk with Jesus look like in practical terms with very real financial, health and social challenges facing us?
- How do you use the Bible in your everyday life?
- What are the strategies that you are using to not just survive but to flourish?
Blessings
Paul Monahan