The Cracked Acorn: Anchor

It has come that time again to think of hooking up to the boat trailer and going after “the one that got away”. My uncle and I made many of these trips to the rivers and lakes of Kentucky. We had a checklist of things we needed: fishing tackle and lures, life vests, oars, fuel for the motor, food, and cold drinks. We always made certain that we had that one most important item – the anchor attached to a cement block with a good length of rope, without the anchor we would not be able to remain in a promising fishing spot or stay close to the shore.

All ships and boats require an anchor. In a great storm, the anchor was needed as drag to slow the ship and keep away from the rocky shores. The world’s largest cruise ship, the Queen Mary 2, because of its size cannot navigate the Panama Canal. The ship has three anchors,each at 23 tons. The three are each attached to a chain that is 1/2 mile long. Anchors and chains weight 273 tons.

Anchor-anything that provides security and stability, and makes firm and provides support. The Scriptures stress the need for an anchor. In Hebrews 6:18c-19,“We who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to seize the hope set before us.(19) We have this as sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner shrine behind the curtain.”

The keys words are “hope” and “anchor”. These words could be interchanged and still provide the same encouragement, as in II Corinthians 3:12,”Since we have such a hope(anchor), we are very bold,” and Ephesians 2:12,”Remember you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope(anchor) and without God in the world”, finally I Peter 1:21, “Through him you have confidence in God, raised from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope(anchor) are in God.”

Will your anchor hold in the storms of life, When the clouds unfold their wings of strife? When the strong tides lift, And the cables strain, Will your anchor drift or firm remain?

WE HAVE AN ANCHOR THAT KEEPS THE SOUL STEADFAST AND SURE WHILE THE BILLOWS ROLL, FASTENED TO THE ROCK WHICH CANNOT MOVE, GROUNDED FIRM AND DEEP IN THE SAVIOR’S LOVE. – (Faith & Praise #467)

It was the schooner Hesperus That sailed the wintry seas,
And the skipper had taken his little daughter, To bear him company.

The up and spake an old sailor, Had sailed to the Spanish Main,
“I pray thee,put into yonder port, For I fear a hurricane.

Down came the storm and smote amain The vessel in its strength;
She shuddered and paused,like a frighted steed,Then leaped her cable’s length

The skipper wrapped his daughter in his seaman’s coat Against the stinging blast;
He cut a rope from a broken spar,And bound her to the mast.

Then the maiden clasped her hands and prayed That saved she might be;
And she thought of Christ,who stilled the wave On the lake of Galilee.

At daybreak.on the bleak sea-beach,A fisherman stood aghast,
To see the form of a maiden fair,Lashed to a drifting mast.

-THE WRECK OF THE HESPERUS by Henry w. Longfellow,1840)