What's in a name?

Last year I spent a week sailing with friends.  Well, that was the intention.  Thanks to the weather we only managed two short and one long (12 hour) trip.  The forecast as we set off from Lymington on the Saturday afternoon was for south westerly gales all day Sunday. So rather than heading out into Lyme Bay and thence to Devon, we settled for crossing Christchurch Bay and anchoring in Studland Bay, sheltered from the prevailing and forecast winds by the hills and cliffs of the Isle of Purbeck.

All day Sunday we rode to the wind and rain.  We ate, read, slept and relaxed, protected from the worst effect of the weather because we were in the lee of the land.  Only once the wind had dropped did we venture out, catching a favourable tide at 2:00am on Monday and arriving in Dartmouth mid afternoon.  (The picture shows Old Harry, the rock at the south eastern end of the bay.)

In conditions beyond your capability it's great to be sheltered in the lee of something bigger and more robust than you.  Thirty eight years ago I came to realise that facing the storms of life required something bigger than me.  So I chose to place my trust in a man from Nazareth, sent from heaven 2000 years ago with the express purpose of dying.  This death was not to be a normal death, but an undeserved and substitutionary 'in my place' death the Roman way, crucified on a wooden cross.

This decision continue to be a life changer for me.  It demands a radical commitment to following the teaching and model of Jesus.  It has delivered forgiveness from God and an ongoing confidence that life is not just about the here and now, but has the guarantee of forever with him in a place dominated by his awesome presence.

So I've placed my life in the shelter  - or lee -of the cross of Jesus.  And coincidentally, the blog name is also a wordplay on my name.