Bro. Archie Miller

Committed to Excellence in Communicating Biblical Truth and it’s Application!

August 2018

Shipwrecks Still Occur!

Remember the oft-told story of a life-saving station that was built on a dangerous seacoast where shipwrecks frequently occur?  The building was no more than a hut, and there was only one boat; but the few devoted members kept a constant watch over the sea. With no thought for themselves, they went out day and night, tirelessly searching for the lost. Some of those who were saved, and various others in the surrounding area, wanted to be associated with the station and give their time, money, and effort to support the work. New boats were bought and new crews trained. The little lifesaving station grew.

Eventually some of these new members of the lifesaving station became unhappy that the building was so crude and poorly equipped. They felt that a more comfortable place should be provided as the first refuge of those who were saved from the sea. So, they replaced the emergency cots with beds and put better furniture in the enlarged building. With all this work, the lifesaving station became a popular gathering place for its members and this led them to decorate it beautifully and furnish it exquisitely such that it became sort of a club-a place for them to meet and relax. The lifesaving motif still prevailed in this club's decoration, and there was a memorial lifeboat in the room where the club initiations were held but, fewer members were now interested in actually going to sea on lifesaving missions, so they hired lifeboat crews to do this work.

About this time a large cruise ship was wrecked off the coast, and the hired crews brought in boatloads of cold, wet, half-drowned people. They were covered in oil, and some had become sick from the oil and salt water, and to top it off, some of them were foreigners. The beautiful new club was in chaos. There were pools of water and wet towels all over the place. Furniture and carpet was damaged. So, immediately, the property committee hired someone to rig up a shower house outside the club, where victims could be cleaned up before coming inside.

And, at the next meeting, there was a split in the club membership. Most of the members wanted to stop the club's lifesaving activities altogether because they felt they were unpleasant and a hindrance to the normal social life of the club. A small number of members insisted upon lifesaving as their primary purpose and pointed out that they were still called a lifesaving station. The small group's members were voted down and told that if they wanted to save lives, they could begin their own lifesaving station down the coast -  and they did.

As the years went by, however, the new station experienced the same changes that had occurred in the old station. It evolved into a club, and yet another lifesaving station was founded. History continued to repeat itself. And if you visit that seacoast today, you will find a number of exclusive clubs along that shore. Shipwrecks are frequent in those waters, but most of the passengers drown.

I know you catch the moral of this story.

1 Timothy 4:16 (NIV2011)
16 Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.

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Dr. Archie Miller, D.PTh.

805.478.8841

W6alm35@gMail.Com

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