THE ANCHOR HOLDS

Have you ever read any books by Edgar Rice Burroughs? If you aren't familiar with him, he is the creator of the famous fictional ape man, Tarzan of the apes. He wrote several books as part of that series describing the life and the adventures of Tarzan. He also wrote a series of novels about Mars, among them, "Warlord of Mars", and "Princess of Mars".

The singular theme that stands out in all of his novels is a sort of an "out of the frying pan, into the fire" kind of thing. His heroes, Tarzan, John Carter, et al, constantly narrowly escape one seemingly impossible situation only to find themselves in an equally impossible situation, from which they somehow manage to extricate themselves. Over and over and over.

I often describe my life as much the same. I say:

"My entire life is an Edgar Rice Burroughs novel without the adventure."

Recently, I suffered what I believe is one of the most devastating blows I have ever had to deal with. I was deeply hurt, and humiliated, and traumatized.

It is during times such as this when I go to my knees and seek guidance and comfort from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Creator of the universe. God the Father. He is my salvation, my hope, my Comforter, my guide, and my anchor.

I am reminded of the words to a song, that I often listen to when I feel The burdens of the world weighing heavily upon me. They can be found below:



The Anchor Holds

Words and Music by Lawrence Chewning and Ray Boltz
© 1994 - Word Music

I have journeyed through the long, dark night
Out on the open sea,
By faith alone, sight unknown,
And yet His eyes were watching me.

The Anchor holds, though the ship is battered.
The Anchor holds, though the sails are torn.
Well I have fallen on my knees,
as I faced the raging seas,
But the Anchor holds, in spite of the storm.


I've had visions and I've had dreams;
Well I've even held them in my hands,
But I never knew those dreams could slip right through
Like they were only grains of sand.


The Anchor holds, though the ship is battered.
The Anchor holds, though the sails are torn.
Well I have fallen on my knees,
as I faced the raging seas.
O, the Anchor holds, in spite of the storm.


Now I have been young, but I am older now.
O and there has been beauty these eyes have seen;
But it was in the night, when I faced the storms of my life.
Oh, that's where God proved His love to me.


The Anchor holds, though the ship is battered.
The Anchor holds, though the sails are torn.
I have fallen on my knees
as I faced the raging seas.
But the Anchor holds; O, in spite of the storm.
I said I've fallen on my knees
as I faced the raging seas;
But the Anchor holds, in spite of the storm.


I find much comfort in these words.

IS A FRUIT TREE THAT BEARS NO FRUIT STILL USEFUL?

When, in better times, I was a married man with a family, and good credit and money to spend, my wife and I bought a house. The house had many positive amenities, including a great room and a living room, a formal dining room, country Kitchen, 2 bathrooms, a heated attached garage, a deck, and a big fenced in back yard.

One of the things that I particularly liked about the house was that in the back yard, there was a young Apple tree. Not a sapling. More mature than that. I thought, "Wow! We can have fresh apples for free!"

But the summer came and went and the tree produced no apples. None.

"Oh well", I thought. "Next year for sure."

But the next summer came and went and still no apples. What a bummer!

Perhaps there is a lesson to be learned from this apple tree that doesn't bear apples.

Matthew 3:10 says, "The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire."

But should we cast the tree away without doing whatever we can to help it produce fruit? Shouldn't the fruit tree be given every opportunity to bear fruit eventually?

What if, after all our efforts, it still bears no fruit? Is it then useless to us? It still has leaves. It still gives cooling shade. It has beauty. It still gives us some pleasure to look upon. It has wood. It can still be used as fuel for a fire, which can warm us and give us comfort.

Above all, the question I would ask is this:

If an apple tree doesn't produce apples, is it still an apple tree? And if not, what is it?