“Well sit right back and you’ll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip. That started from this tropic port aboard this tiny ship. The mate was a mighty sailor man, a Skipper brave and sure. Five passengers set sail that day for a three hour tour. A three hour tour! The weather started getting rough, the tiny ship was tossed. If not for the courage of the fearless crew, the Minnow would be lost. The Minnow would be lost. The ship set ground on the shore of this uncharted desert isle. With Gilligan, the Skipper too, the Millionaire and his Wife, the Movie Star, the Professor, and Mary Ann here on Gilligan’s Isle!”
So go the familiar words of the theme song to the old sit-com “Gilligan’s Island.” I loved this show growing up. The idea that the Professor could make more gadgets than MacGyver, yet he could not patch a hole on the boat was amusing. The fact that this “desert isle” had more visitors than a Star Trek convention, yet our heroes never could make it off the island kept the show going several seasons after it should have “jumped the shark.”
As amusing as this show was to watch, it would have been very difficult to live. I was thinking about this theme song today as I was reflecting on the passages of Scripture we are going to be looking at Sunday morning at Wildwood (Mark 4:35-41 and 6:45-51). In these passages, Jesus’ disciples got in a boat for a 3 hour cruise to the other side of the lake, but ended up getting way more than they bargained for on the open water. The stormy seas made their lives a story that we have loved to watch for many “seasons.”
As amusing as their lives are to watch, however, when our lives play out like theirs we find ourselves hurting. In our walks with Christ, many times we get on a “boat” to float to the other side of an experience and suddenly find ourselves in the midst of a storm that is tossing our tiny ship. Kimberly and I have been living through one of those storms together the past 10 days. Knowing that I was preaching at Wildwood this Sunday, and reflecting on our experience, I thought of these verses in the Gospel of Mark and found encouragement and hope. Sunday we will look at them together and find peace on the boat while we are on the stormy sea . . . peace that will keep us from being marooned on a spiritual desert isle. I look forward to having communion and looking into God’s Word together this Sunday at Wildwood in both the 9:30 and 10:50 services. See you there.