Boat People

Just before the plane banked hard right to line up its approach I had been gazing out the oval window at the narrow bit of Aegean Sea that separates Turkey from the island on which I was about to land.  No more than two or three miles wide, it is a bit of sea that changes people.  They have already left their homeland.  They are already unwanted.  As they climb into an overcrowded raft and leave one continent for another they become boat people.

There was something about that term that stuck in my craw. Because in a story of old, boat people gave me new life.  Jesus walks up to a couple of ordinary guys - in a boat.  The fact that they were fishing meant they had been overlooked by all the rabbis as not good enough.  Not good enough to be like them.  Not good enough to share their message reliably, and told to go and work the family trade.  Unwanted. 

So the Master walks up and says, “Come and follow.”  Those three words mean everything.  Dreams that had been dashed are now rekindled. ‘My life will have more meaning and purpose and fulfillment.  Jesus believes I can be like him.’

The plane is now touching down.  I am here to serve those who crossed in a boat, motivated by the words of Jesus to guys in a boat.  “I believe in you.  You can make a difference.”  My humble offering - manning the gate at the secure zone, setting up tents for new arrivals, swapping out mattresses - matters.  I’m a boat person too.