Throw Off the Bowlines

“Every single choice you make… every single action you take… matters. But remember, the converse is also true. Every choice you do not make… every action you do not take… matters just as much.” – Andy Andrews, The Lost Choice

Paul Anka wrote the song “My Way” with one entertainer in mind – Frank Sinatra. To Anka, no one epitomized the “I ate it up and spit it out” lyrics like Ol’ Blue Eyes, the Chairman of the Board.

Another line in that memorable song goes like this: “Regrets, I’ve had a few, but then again, too few to mention.” Well, Paul Anka and Francis Albert Sinatra can speak for themselves, but I have a number of regrets in life. Mostly, they come from disobeying God or acting too impetuously… and then having to do some major damage control afterwards.

However, the one regret I don’t have is failing to grasp an opportunity when it came knocking at my door. Plunge head-first into full-time ministry without a financial safety net? Check! Run for Congress as a conservative Republican in a heavily Democratic district? Check twice!! Leave a ministry God used me to birth after 24 years and relocate to Florida to launch a new ministry from scratch? Yep, that too!

I think Mark Twain had it right when he wrote the following…

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines! Sail away from safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover!”

“Now the LORD had said to Abram: ‘Get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you.” Genesis 12:1 (NKJV)

“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid nor be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9 (NKJV)

“But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that he is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” Hebrews 11:6 (NKJV)

- Rev. Dale M. Glading, President