Cynthia and I just got back from our vacation. We had a wonderful time with our friends Bruce and Debbie. Most of the time we were on a cruise ship, stopping in six ports along the way in the Caribbean. Lots of things to see, people to meet, experiences to have. At either end of the cruise we spent time in Florida snooping around.
My favorite time, as always, was the early morning before Cynthia was up. Quiet time. Time to read, reflect, relax. This vacation I chose to read through the pentateuch; the first five books in the Bible. Well, I almost made it. I'll finish up here at home.
I tend to forget those early years of our relationship with God, overshadowed by the grace we experience through Christ.
Go check it out... God wanted relationship with people, but he also made life and death decisions. When people didn't go His way he "zapped" them. Cities were burnt up, the earth swallowed them up, plagues wiped them out... Moses jumped in to talk God out out zapping Israel when they disobeyed. Sin was dealt with a little different back then. Lucky us, I guess!
Cynthia was very sick one day of our cruise, and I kidded with our server at dinner that it was the french onion soup the night before. He got very serious and asked me not to talk like this or he could get fired. I was shocked. Even if it was something she ate, he doesn't make the food... The next morning I was talking to Vladimir, one of the guys working on deck at 6 in the morning. I had him explain what that was all about.
On a ship, everything is run by tight rules. And excellence, even perfection, is the standard. Vladimir explained that one of the staff will get in big trouble, even fired, if a customer complains. Even for something so simple as forgetting a straw in their soda. Vladimir was written up for being 5 minutes late for his shift one time in five months. I later learned our dinner server Rey was written up because some guy said he didn't take his order fast enough. Well he had other tables...
I realized there was not a lot of grace on this cruise ship. People worked hard, sometimes on as little as four hours sleep, and were held to very high standards. And it showed. Things were "ship shape." And all the crew signed up for it; none of them were there against their will. But there was a lot of pressure to perform or be gone.
And then I started watching the crew closely. I could see the fatigue behind their smiles towards the end of the cruise. But it never impacted the passengers. Things were ship shape.
And I thought of the church. We value excellence, but not perfection. We want to offer the best we have to God, but not out of fear of being zapped, but because we love Him and others. And we can be transparent when we are weak, tired, hurting, ot struggling and ask for help. No one's going to "fire" us. We're all on a journey together in God's grace through his son Jesus. Whew! The ground isn't going to open up and swallow us when we mess up.
But on the other hand, a God who loves us disciplines us. We should feel some consequences when we make selfish, sinful choices that will ultimately hurt us and fall short of loving God and loving people as our priority. That's a God of love.
And then I think back on the tight rules on a cruise ship, and how the high standards create an environment that people will pay for that in turn create the jobs the crew signs up for. And the seemingly graceless environment took on a different light.
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