"The Ocean Doesn't Need the Sailor"

         I heard a song yesterday that really hit home. I listen to a radio show on NPR entitled Etown which features musical guests from a wide and varied span of genres. Ron Pope, one of yesterday's guests sang a song titled "My Wildest Dreams" (just posted on my Facebook page) in which today's FTM is centered around a particular line from this musical journey.       A lot of times I'm bad about just listening to music without paying enough attention to the words or message of the content in the lyrics. I tend to just enjoy the beat, melody, or rhythm of the song, but in this case, one of the first lines in the song grabbed my attention and set me to thinking about how true the statement was. Mr. Pope, a folksy type artist chimed the line "The ocean doesn't need the sailor, the sky was there before the dusk", and suddenly my mind started thinking about how true that is. The ocean would still exist if there were no sailors to set sail upon it, yet if there were no ocean where would sailors go to sail? Not wanting to say that we are insignificant at all, but just think we need to put things in perspective a little and in so doing realize that our purpose on life is completely necessary, yet if we choose to ignore the purpose God created you for, His will, will be done.
      When we get so caught up in how important we are, how critical it is for our schedule to be the focus, how our plans should have the spotlight or even the idea that someone just cut "me" off on the highway, I would suggest we keep this little reminder in place that really the ocean doesn't need the sailor. We need to remember that just as with the ocean and sailor equation, this big, old world is spinning with no support from us, and if God wants us to do something and we choose not to do it, it will still be done it just may have to take a little different path to get there. The one that loses out in that situation is the sailor.
     Didn't want to sound offensive today by no means, just wanted to send a wake -up call to someone out there that may have a calling that they haven't answered yet or a mother or father that needs to place a higher emphasis on teaching their child about what Christmas is over who they still have to buy a present for this year. Maybe you're listening to the words of Ron Pope's song and that line makes you feel insignificant, well it shouldn't. The fact that the ocean doesn't need the sailor could make us feel a little insignificant, but in my mind all that is saying is yes, the ocean doesn't need the sailor, but the ocean gives the sailor a purpose and through that purpose the relationship of the sailor to the ocean is everlasting. The more the sailor depends on the ocean the more their existence is intertwined. May your life with Our Maker be the same. God existed before us and He will be in existence forever, I just want Him to be in existence in my heart forever! He may not necessarily need me, yet I could not imagine my life without Him in it!  
"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9
Coach Carter