Previous Challenge Entry (Level 3 - Advanced)
Topic: River (08/31/06)
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TITLE: An Anchor Cast Upward | Previous Challenge Entry
By Charles Salmon
09/05/06 -
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My fishing partner and I planned to fish for Walleye in the Wolf River in northern Wisconsin. We picked a clear brisk day in late March. We arrived at a place which was evidently a favorite of the local fishermen. There were several fishing boats already in the water even though it was early in the morning.
The Wolf ran very swift and deep, swollen by melting snow and ice. I noticed it was still frozen over where the water flowed a little slower. Fishermen had pulled their boats next to the ice and thrown their anchors up on the ice. I wondered why they weren’t anchored out in the middle of the open water where, I thought, they would be more likely to find fish.
Not one to fish in a crowd, I anchored my little motorized rowboat in the center of the open water. My friend and I had been fishing only a few minutes when I felt the boat lurch and the bow begin to dip sharply. A chunk of ice larger than my boat had broken loose upstream and floated down on the swift river current until it encountered my anchor rope. Now, pushing against the rope, it threatened to pull our boat under the water.
The anchor held. The rope was strong. The “iceberg” was unstoppable. I was about to cut the rope to avoid having my boat sunk when the ice rotated on the rope and passed by us, continuing its journey downstream. The other fishermen had a good laugh when my anchor joined theirs up on the frozen part of the river.
This incident often comes to mind when I read Hebrews 6:19 and 20: “We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where Jesus, who went before us, has entered on our behalf.” The writer seems to be saying the hope offered us is an anchor cast upward into Heaven.
It seems to me we all anchor onto something. We need something to exert a steadying influence in our lives. Without it we might be swept away with currents of doubt, crushed by disappointment, or drowned in sorrow. If we place our hope on wealth, career, or even family, the future becomes uncertain. Our anchor is unstable.
God has provided a wonderful hope for His people through the blood of Jesus. Our hope is an anchor for the soul, an anchor firmly planted in Heaven.
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