Today I took a break from study and watched an episode of Firefly, a ‘space-western’ TV show from 2002. The series follows the crew of a spaceship who take any job that pays, even if it is technically against the law. (They have their own moral code so are definitely the ‘good guys’)
In the first episode, they pick up some passengers. One of them, Shepherd Book, is a bit like a modern day monk, a religious person who has lived in community. He sets out to explore the world and, seemingly at random, ends up on our hero’s ship. It’s an eventful voyage, and this holy man ends up knocking out a man of the law, then vows to protect him, realises he’s on a smuggling ship, then watches as the man he vowed to protect gets shot by the captain (remember, definitely a good guy).
Towards the end of the episode, he is talking to the mechanic. He’s thoroughly disillusioned, and says, “I think I’m on the wrong ship.” The mechanic replies, “Maybe you’re on exactly the right ship.”
How often in life do we set out full of excitement and expectations only to find reality is different from what we imagined? Sometimes it’s easy to get disillusioned, to think we made a mistake and want to ‘get off’ or turn back. But looking back on my own journey, it’s those times when I’ve felt ‘on the wrong ship’ that I’ve grown the most, that I’ve learnt the most about God and myself. God has used those times to teach me, to push me out of my comfort zone.
The next time things don’t go the way you expect and your feel like you’re ‘on the wrong ship’, remember the words from Firefly – maybe you are on exactly the right ship. Keep going, you never know what God will show you.
The Reason for my Hope Blog 