Finishing Well

Eldest daughter is standing in front of our very own Santa Maria replica that permanently rests in the river downtown. We recently visited after studying about Christopher Columbus in homeschool.

The tour guide on the ship told us a story I hadn't heard about the unfortunate fate of the Santa Maria and her crew. Christmas day of their voyage, the entire crew (including Christopher Columbus) got so drunk they all passed out. Only a twelve-year-old boy was left to man the ship. He did his best, but managed to wreck the boat on a Haitian island.

Columbus was determined not to be defeated. He used the wreckage of the ship to build a fort, and left the entire crew there at the fort until someone could return for them, and sailed on aboard one of his other two ships.

When someone did return, they found the fort destroyed and every man (and child) killed by natives.

I was reminded of this story yesterday evening as our youth pastor reminded us of the life of Solomon. Solomon was given every advantage a king could require to rule his people well. Not only was he the son of the greatest king that ever lived, he was raised to know the law of Moses, which explicitly carried instructions for kings. Beyond all of this, God himself endowed Solomon with wisdom that was unheard of before that time or since.

And Solomon did well. For awhile. But all of his advantages led him down a path he couldn't resist, even though he knew better. 700 wives, 12,000 horses and way too much gold and silver later, he sadly wrote at the end of his life that he had missed the boat. Too late. "Fear God and keep his commandments." he wrote. "This is the whole duty of man."

I'm humbled that I don't have to learn the hard way. I can take a good hard look at Solomon and remember how he felt about all the things he had put his trust in after he got them. They defeated him. They crippled him. They tore his heart away from his Creator, where it had rested safely and peacefully, and caused him to fall in a way that ruined his life and his effectiveness.

When I add this to the message from Pastor Sol yesterday morning, I have the missing piece of the puzzle that Solomon forgot. "God's work is always accomplished through God's power." If I try to stay on the right path in my own strength, I'm destined for failure. The trick is keeping hold of the humility it takes to keep every step of my life focused on Christ.

As I hope to move forward in my writing, there are two things I've been praying for with fervency. They come from a song from Matthew West called "Stop the World." I need to be humble, I need to have nothing to prove.

And if God can remind me of that, every day, for the rest of my life, I hope I will be able to finish well.

And you as well.