“But now, Lord, what do I look for? My hope is in you” (Psalm 39:7, NIV).

We held a dinner this week for a fellow whom we are recruiting to join our medical school practice. Though I’ve known him for two years, I had not heard his family story.  His father is Vietnamese and had to escape when the Communists took over. He snuck away in a boat with a few others, leaving everything behind. He drifted in that boat with no land in sight for more than 20 days and would have died if an Indian cargo ship had not discovered them and carried them to Japan. He came to America and has been successful with a child I admire who is about to become a very bright oncologist.

I suspect all of us over the age of 30 have had periods in our lives when it felt like we were drifting at sea with no land in sight. I won’t go into it, but my first such time was at the age of 31. I kept waiting for God to pick me up and carry me to wholeness, but my drifting seemed to last forever with no ship in sight—but He did come, and I became a more faithful and grateful servant because of that drifting.

There will be times in our lives when there is only open sea, because of our sin, because of the sins of others or simply because Satan is writhing in a world he knows he has lost. I hope your times are brief and far between.

We can be sure, even when the horizon is empty and the pain seems too much to endure, if we know and love the Lord, His ship always comes.

As I have quoted before:

“I don’t know when it will happen, and I don’t know where it will happen; but, if you do not give up, the Shepherd will find you and bring you home.”

—Dave Stancil

“The worst thing that happens to you will never be the last thing that happens to you. The last thing that happens to you will be Jesus.”

—Richard Hipps

Dear Father,

Bless those who see no hope in sight. Help them see you.

Amen