Sailing and Stewardship

One of the first things I learned when I started sailing small boats was that, while I should have our destination in sight, I may not be able to sail straight to it. Winds, currents and other conditions demand that we may have to "tack", or sail in diagonal directions to eventually arrive at the destination.

Development and stewardship is, in many ways, similar. We must tack in building and developing relationships. I see this in two areas:

1. The Lord wants us to pray and to rely on Him. If He makes the process the "cause and effect" as we find on the transactional world, where is our faith? If it is a linear process, then we reduce the process to "this many visits or appeals" equals this many dollars. So, we just get better at turning the crank on the find raising machine.


2. On the higher level, there are people and organizations that we can and should bless, and there is no immediate return or connection with the goal of raising funds. Here, we need to see that we stewards need to be available to the King to be used in a way that advances His Kingdom. Most of us do not have vast sums of cash wealth, but we have much to share with others. Who knows, maybe we can even help them with their fund raising!

The sailing analogy breaks down a little because, in development, we may not be able to see the destination that the Lord has for us. However, we can watch the prevailing winds (the Spirit) and sail in the direction He points.

The results are His after all; to God be the Glory.