Experience

A favorite quote of mine from Dan Stanford is “experience is what you get when you don’t get what you want.” And I am so there.

This image is of a storm in Galveston Bay. I am in a small sailboat in Galveston Bay. And from experience I can tell you, being in a small boat in Galveston Bay during a storm is not a great plan. Usually it happens because you failed to plan. And here is where training takes over. You sail towards the storm. That’s right, sail towards it. Now your brain will not be happy with this decision. Other parts of your anatomy may equally reject this strategy. But the storm is moving fast, way faster than the boat is able to, so in sailing to the storm you cut down the amount of time that you will be in the storm. So instead of 15 – 20 terrifying minutes, you can cut it down by more than double, maybe 3 – 5 minutes of horror.

But I also believe that there are moments of experience that may be exactly what you want, or exactly what you would hope for. I believe when we experience moments with God, moments near God, even God winks (as my friend calls them), those are moments that we are getting precisely what we long for. And those are the thin places.