When Christopher Columbus and his one-hundred-men crew pushed off from Palos de la Frontera, Spain in search of a western sea route to Asia in 1492, many weren’t so sure they’d ever see him again.
The Italian-born explorer had lobbied earnestly for funding for the trip, and was turned down by Portugal, England and France. Spain finally agreed to back him, but navigating unchartered waters in the fifteenth century was harrowing and, at times, horrifying and deadly.
As it turned out, the journey took Columbus much longer than he had anticipated. In total, it was two months and nine days before he landed in the Bahamas and nowhere near Asia. But he had discovered the New World, and that was plenty enough for the trip to be deemed historic and successful.
Like all explorers, Columbus kept a log of his days on the ocean. At one point, he sailed for 33 straight. Yet if you reviewed his journal, you know how the most common entry reads?
“Today, we sailed on.”
As we consider our place and role in this broken world – the challenges of a dysfunctional culture that champions and celebrates death, mocks the light of Christ and demonizes Christians – Columbus’ words resonate.
Today, we sail on.
It’s frustrating that one party advocates for abortion and the other seems increasingly tolerant of it.
It’s inexplicable why companies that rely on people and big families for sales would contribute to organizations like Planned Parenthood, an organization committed to reducing the population and thus reducing economic output.
Dedicated pro-lifers sail on.
It’s illogical and wicked that medical professionals who take the Hippocratic Oath to “do no harm” nevertheless agree to mutilate perfectly functioning bodies in order to play along with a person’s tragic sexual confusion.
Courageous advocates like Katy Faust, founder and president of Them Before Us, a global children’s rights nonprofit, sail on.
It’s maddening to see once highly respected organizations like the Boy Scouts of America, who fought and secured their religious freedom all the way up to the Supreme Court, recklessly surrender to identity politics.
Trail Life USA and American Heritage Girls sail on.
Scripture is full of admonitions to not give up and not give in. Jesus urged against discouragement and putting human constraints on an all-powerful God. “With man this is impossible,” He once said. “But with God all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26). “Let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up,” wrote the apostle Paul (Galatians 6:9).
God’s Word urges us to sail on.
We shake our head at the 2024 campaign, we call out the lies, bemoan the stupidity, lament the hypocrisy and moral selectivity – and sometimes wonder what the world is coming to.
As the late Dr. Adrian Rogers liked to say, “I’ll tell you what it’s coming to. It’s coming to Jesus.”
We sail on by opening and reading the Bible in search of God’s perspective. We sail on by being an active member of our church, by loving our neighbor in practical ways and by volunteering to help get the vote out come November.
We sail on by praying and petitioning the Lord. We sail on by loving and serving our spouse, pouring our hearts and efforts into our children and grandchildren.
Of late, Christopher Columbus has been demonized for sailing on, accused of having enslaved natives and even profited from trading and selling people. Honest and fair historians have debunked such claims, particularly noting the explorer’s evangelical motivations.
Likewise, socially conservative Christians are ostracized and demonized for sailing on faithfully in an increasingly secular and hostile culture. We cannot allow ourselves to be stopped by the proverbial wind and waves. The Christian’s “raison d’être” – the reason for our existence – is to bring Glory to God (1 Cor. 10:31) – and we do that by sailing on as His representatives through both the sun and storms of life.
Image from Shutterstock.
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