Article by Matthew Hosier, Gateway Church, Pool

Earlier this week I spent 48 hours on a yachting trip from Poole to Alderney (and back again!), on a boat skippered by Rick Ganly from Apex Church in the Isle of Wight. I’ve never sailed before, and it was a fantastic experience. Ten of us from Gateway went on the trip and I can thoroughly recommend it. Rick runs the boat with the aim of serving church groups, and if this is something that appeals to you there is more information available here.

Seas and boats feature frequently in the Bible, and I have often heard people use nautical illustrations to make a spiritual point. One that I have used myself on more than one occasion is to compare the Christian’s life to a sailboat, with a similar need to keep our sails trimmed to the wind – in the believers case, to the wind of God’s Spirit.

It is what you have below the waterline - unseen - that really counts....whatever the situation it is the keel of the boat that keeps things movin

What I hadn’t appreciated, however, is that trimming the sails actually involves tying them into place. With a favourable wind, the angle of the sails is set, and away you go: We made it all the way from Alderney to Poole with only very minor amounts of adjustment to the ropes tensioning the sails. So perhaps the spiritual analogy is even more apposite than I had realized – after all, God’s Spirit is always at work, so what we need to do is set our sails right and not keep fiddling with the ropes.

When the sails are set, all that is needed to keep the boat on course is control of the rudder, and a compass to steer by. A spiritual analogy might see these elements as the basic doctrines of our faith – reliable truth that will guide us home. The key thing, though, is the keel. Without a keel, the boat would just fall on its side. It is the keel that keeps the boat moving in response to the wind in the sails and the turning of the rudder, rather than the whole thing ending in an ugly mess. Rick described times that he has been in a boat that has been knocked flat in a storm but the keel always brings it back up again.

Perhaps, then, it is the analogy of the keel that is most useful to us Christians – and especially those of us who lead. It is what you have below the waterline – unseen – that really counts. Sometimes life is fair winds and good seas; at other times it is squalls, storms and hurricanes. But whatever the situation it is the keel of the boat that keeps things moving. Our yacht drew a lot of attention when it came into Poole quay, because it was beautiful and impressive – but no-one was commenting on its keel. A leaders life is a lot like that – people notice and comment on what is visible, but it is our hidden life that really counts.

So rather than asking about how much wind there is in our sails, maybe we should more often enquire of one another how much depth there is to our keels.