Stranded

Sometimes things don't go as planned. Stuff happens. I'm a marine contractor-- last week in a 48 hour period, the air compressor running the pile hammer broke, the hydraulic pump running the crane broke, the skid-steer key was lost, and the boat motor broke while my employees were out on the water. They had to paddle to shore with shovels. Our tight schedule for the week (or two, or three?) went out the window. I'm a planner. I like to plan, because it gives me a false sense of control over my life. But sometimes stuff happens in spite of our planning, and we are stranded-- sidelined like the star athlete who just broke their ankle or the person who just got a cancer diagnosis (been there.) Everything is on hold.

A few days ago, I was praying and God showed me something interesting. I saw the front of an old fashioned canoe. It had been taken out of the water and was upside down. The reason was immediately obvious. There was a gaping dinner plate-sized hole in the side. The canoe appeared to be made of wood or birch bark, and the hole was jagged and splintered. There was zero chance of this leak being fixed on location. I also noticed that the ragged edges were on the outside of the hole, as though something had broken it from the inside out. Fascinating! My impression was that the canoe was stuck on a sandbar in the middle of a big river, and that the canoe's occupant was sitting beside it and contemplating sandbar living for the indefinite future. They weren't going anywhere. At least not in that canoe. That thing was done.

But God, what does this mean, exactly? Clearly the person was detained by the situation and needed to throw away their calendar, but are there additional lessons here? On a whim, I googled "prophetic dream dictionary" and the top listing was JoshuaMediaMinistries.org. Their definition read:

A canoe is a small boat usually controlled by one person...

In a dream, a canoe could represent one who is trying to control their own destiny or who is being led by the spirit...

Seeing someone in a canoe in a dream could represent someone who is self-propelled or self-motivated in doing their own will without the leading of God.

In the context of the vision of the canoe with the hole in it, is God using the hole in the canoe (a self-inflicted hole?) to sideline this person to keep them from going down the river to their doom over an unknown waterfall? Is God perhaps stalling them because someone else is coming along in a different canoe that they are supposed to join up with and paddle together?

In Jeremiah 29, God gives a message to the exiles in Babylon through a letter from the prophet Jeremiah. It is a message of hope that Christians love to quote. It is such a part of our Christian culture here in America that you can even see verse 11 on decorative signs at Hobby Lobby:

"... For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future..."

That sounds great! Sign me up God! But if you back up and look at the first part of the chapter, you can see the context. It was written to the exiles that had been forcibly taken from their homes years before by King Nebuchadnezzar and moved to Babylon against their will. They didn't want to be stuck there, and were anxious to get home. But instead of sending them bus tickets to get home, God told them to make themselves comfortable.

This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel says to all those I carried into exile in Babylon: "Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there, do not decrease. Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper..."

Do you notice the time factor? Build houses? Get married? Have kids? Get them married and enjoy your grandkids? All of these people were itching to get home. Anywhere but there, really. But God was detaining them there. For their own good-- even though they didn't like it much. Also, it was going to be a minute... But that place of detention ended up being the place of blessing. That uncomfortable place they were stranded in? That was to be the place of prosperity!

So maybe God has you stranded or detained. Your canoe has a colossal hole in it, you are powerless to solve the problem, and so you sit. But that's okay, really.

Take a deep breath and wait. See what God will do.

This canoe wasn't gong anywhere but the burn pile.