On our boat, the Amazing Grace, we have two anchors: one at the bow of the ship (Rocna, 25 kg) and one at the stern (Kobra 2, 20 kg). We put a lot of thought into which anchors we want to take on our journey, since they provide hold and safety for our ship. We commit our and the boat’s safety to their function and they make wonderful moments in bays, security in strong winds and quiet sleep possible.
Our Anchor
Both of us have found such an anchor for our lives as well. This anchor is the faith in the God of the Bible in the person of Jesus Christ. The author of the letter to the Hebrews in the Bible must have been a sailor, as he gets to the heart of it:
„ … we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be greatly encouraged. We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary….“ (Hebrews 6,18b.19a)
We get to have this hope, since it relies on the faith in God’s love for mankind. We believe that he desires a relationship with everybody and that this connection was made possible through his son Jesus Christ. Similar to our boat, which is protected from strong winds through the anchor, our lives are anchored through trust in Jesus Christ.
Oftentimes, our anchor drops from the Amazing Grace into the water while we are not able to see the ground. Therefore we do not know which ground we are dropping it on and if it will dig into it. However, we rely on our anchor, verify the hold and trust it will retain over night. We can compare this situation with the definition of faith in the Bible:
„Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see… . And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.“ (Hebrews 11,1.6)
When anchoring with a ship, two things are of utmost importance: a good anchor and a secure anchorage that offers the best hold. Whenever the anchor is not able to dig itself into the ground it only provides fallacious hold, which endangers ship and crew, every time stronger winds come. We think that it is the same with faith: It does not matter that you believe in something, but rather who you believe in. We cast our anchor of faith onto Jesus Christ. For many years now, through all storms and calms we have experienced that this anchor holds. We even trust that it will hold beyond this earthly life. This is why our main sail is adorned with the following verse:
„For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life..“(John 3,16)
It is a wonderful gift that you can choose to accept or to refuse, however not to earn through your own strength, for it is grace. We have accepted this gift through faith and belief and are so enthusiastic about it that we named our ship Amazing Grace.