Dry-Docked

 It was intended to just be a quick stop-in to pick up a small item I'd previously ordered from a warehouse. But the wait turned out to be longer than expected... on a hot summer day with no AC. As I sat waiting for my order to be brought out, watching the customer service staff work the phones and the desk, my eyes drifted outside to the junk yard located across the street. That's Alaska for ya... one of the premier furniture and home stores in the state backs up next to a junk and repair yard in the heart of the city. You gotta love it and smile at that one, I thought.           

But then I noticed a boat in the junk yard that had seen better days and I couldn't help but laugh... because the boat's name was Lucky Lucy. Poor Lucy didn't appear to have been so "lucky" in recent days (or years, depending on how long it has sat there) and I wondered what the story was behind it. Was it dropped off or sold off for parts and no longer sea worthy? Was someone in the process of restoring or repairing it so it could ride again? There was no way to know but the picture was unmistakable: sometimes we all hit seasons where the "luck" runs out and we're a shell of the life we once had or the person we were. We're dry-docked, unmoored, and waiting to see the next chapter of our life. 

Times like this require grieving. Just like that boat, there was a period when we were sea-worthy, intact, and whole, sailing the unknown waters of life full of risk and confidence. But when we're turned into this broken, run-down version that, unless someone knew us in a past season, is unrecognizable to who and what we once were, we mourn that polished and sea-worthy when we felt the freedom of uncharted waters and were unafraid to push out into the wild yonder. We miss how we felt about ourselves or our life back then. We also miss how we were seen by others and feel the isolation of now being forgotten, left to rust out our days with no purpose or hope. 

Yet... 

Maybe this is the exact place where we get to build something new. Maybe here, in this state of being left behind and isolated from that bygone chapter of our life, we get to start a new life that still holds meaning. We get to write a new story that, while not the same, can still be good and full and beautiful. And have we so quickly forgotten the One who is the BEST in the business when it comes to new beginnings? What if He's already setting a plan into motion that will give you a new life and a new mission! Perhaps it gets you back on the water, perhaps it doesn't. But what if this isn't the end?

I believe that, while you still have breath in your lungs, you are destined for greatness. Your life, your story, still carries tremendous value, and you have the capacity to make an impact through your personality, experiences, faith, prayers, and gifts that, even though they may be used a little differently than before, have not lost their power. Even if things like ill health, the collapse of your job, your marriage, or your ministry, the death of a loved one, the ending of a dream, the farewell to a meaningful relationship, or anything else may have left you feeling adrift and an unfamiliar version of yourself, I promise you that it's not over for you yet. Your Lucky Lucy may still have some magic in her left yet.