A 2000 Year-Old Boat

Reading in Matthew 14 this morning, I came upon the passage where the disciples get into a boat on the Sea of Galilee while Jesus remains by Himself alone, praying. There is a note in the ESV Study Bible that presents a drawing of the kind of fishing boat that was used by Peter and Andrew and James and John. The note reveals that the rendering was based on the actual remains of a 2000 year-old boat discovered on the "northwestern short of the Sea of Galilee." When I saw the picture and read the note, something happened inside of me. It's just a rendering, but at the moment I saw it, my faith, once again, was reconnected afresh with reality. Christians don't believe in some kind of religious or spiritual truth divorced from the real world of facts and events. As Francis Schaeffer said so many times during his life, Christians believe in "true truth." Our faith in grounded in historical fact and in space/time detail. We don't follow some moralistic philosophy, but as Christians we relate personally to the Real God of the Universe Who is There! We live lives of faith/trust in a Personal God in a supernatural universe. Our faith is NOT hoping that God is really there, but trusting in a God Who IS there! The more we realize our faith keeps us firmly grounded in reality, the more we will live lives of world-changing prayer; the more we will live lives of Christ-honoring vision; the more we will live lives of culturally-transforming obedience; the more we will live lives of radical worship. Why did I get so excited about seeing a simple rendering of a 2000 year-old boat? Because I am meant to realize on a daily basis, that my faith is grounded in reality...in time and in space...in true truth. You are too!