Tag Archives: Waverunner

To Appeal, or Not?

May 1, 2024 Tom Vander Well Leave a comment

“If, however, I am guilty of doing anything deserving death, I do not refuse to die. But if the charges brought against me by these Jews are not true, no one has the right to hand me over to them. I appeal to Caesar!”
Acts 25:11 (NIV)

Paul has been imprisoned for two years. He had been a political blue-chip for the Roman Governor, Felix, who wanted to stay on the good side of the Jewish rulers who wanted Paul dead. Paul gave him leverage. Felix gets recalled to Rome and a new Governor named Festus arrives. As Festus gets the political lay of the land, he quickly understands that the trial and fate of Paul is a political hot potato.

Festus begins with a political gesture to his Jewish constituents by traveling to Jerusalem to visit them on their home turf for a little over a week. Obviously, there were a number of political issues to discuss, but Paul’s fate was certainly on the list of Jewish demands.

Upon arriving back in his seat of power in Caesarea, Festus convenes the court and brings in Paul to hear Paul plead his case. Festus, still in a conciliatory mood with the powerful Jewish faction under his rule, asks Paul if he’s willing to be tried by the Governor in Jerusalem.

In this moment, Paul makes a decision that will seal his fate and determine the rest of his earthly journey. We know that Jesus had appeared to Paul and told him he must testify about Him in Rome (Acts 23:11). It is entirely possible that Paul was afraid that the new Governor, clearly trying to appease the Jewish rulers, would take him to Jerusalem and hand him over to them. To ensure that he would testify in Rome, Paul used his legal right under Roman law to appeal his case to Caesar in Rome itself. In doing so, Paul ties Festus’ hands politically. Festus is bound by duty to send Paul to Rome.

Along my life journey, I have encountered followers of Jesus who believe that God has called them to do this or that. Subsequently, I have watched individuals try to make it happen. In some cases, the results have been disastrous, much like Shakespeare’s Macbeth. It has left me believing that if God’s purpose is for me to go here or there and do this or that, then nothing can stop it from happening.

Was Paul’s appeal to Rome necessary or not? If God wanted Paul to testify in Rome, could/should Paul have trusted that God would see to it he won his trial in Jerusalem so he could travel to Rome of his own free will? Was his appeal to Caesar an act of obedience or an act of doubt? We’ll never know.

I have found along the way that God’s purposes and my free will are a lot like the mysterious circle dance of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in which One is Three and Three are One. There’s a tension. On one hand I can be too passive and think I’m trusting God to make things happen. On the other hand, I can willfully try too hard to make things happen and think I’m being obedient to what God has purposed for me.

Life is a bit like the Waverunner we have at the lake. If you don’t have your finger on the accelerator and are propelling yourself forward, you can’t steer the thing. My part is to willfully and obediently walk in discipleship (propelling myself spiritually forward). Then, I can trust God to steer me where He ultimately purposes for me to be.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

2018 Half-Way Through

July 11, 2018 Tom Vander Well Leave a comment

The first half of 2018 has flown by. For Wendy and me it has continued to be a year of transitions. We’re transitioning into some new paradigms with work. We’ve transitioned out of our involvement in Community Theatre. Most importantly, we’ve transitioned into be grandparents. We went on a cruise. We took a quick trip to California (part business, part pleasure). We’ve been finishing some long overdue tasks around Vander Well Manor that have been on the honey-do list since we moved in over three years ago.

After our cruise, Wendy and I were talking about vacations and rest. We spend a lot of time at our place on the lake in the summer months, but because we both home office and can work from anywhere, we typically work while we are the lake. This is a tremendous blessing and it’s the reason we can be there as much as we are. However, we asked ourselves when was the last time we went to the lake and didn’t work. I couldn’t come up with it.

So, this summer we’re trying to make sure we unplug at least a couple of times while we’re at the lake. Last week was one of those weeks. It was a lot of fun. We managed to get quite a bit of sun. We sat on the dock and read. We watched fireworks. We took the Waverunner to Bear Bottom a couple of times to sit in the pool and sip cold drinks. We watched the entire second season of Jessica Jones on Netflix. I finished a book. I putzed at some projects.

There were also some things that Wendy and I needed to feel, and to talk about. We didn’t know it when the week began. Our rest gave opportunity for emotions to surface which gave opportunity to contemplate, and process, and grieve. That’s what happens at the lake when you allow yourself to rest. It’s a good thing.

I’m looking forward to more unplugging this summer. And some rides on the wave runner!

Wayfarer's Journal

The Calm Before the Storm

June 18, 2012 Tom Vander Well Leave a comment

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Wendy and I spent a working vacation at the lake this past week. Our friends the VLs had been there for a family weekend when we arrived on Sunday and we got to spend an evening together before they headed home. I call it a working vacation because we both had work to do which was accomplished remotely on our laptops. It was also a working vacation because, while we enjoyed the quiet of the lake for a few days, there was a lot to do around the Playhouse. I power washed the deck and sealed it – a task I’d been putting off for two years. There was also a long list of little “honey dos” that we worked on throughout the week.

On Thursday Wendy and I took a personal respite, got out on the water, and enjoyed a meal at one of our favorite haunts. By Friday morning it was clear that I didn’t do a good job of putting sunscreen on. Yikes! My chest and belly were splotchy patches of alternating beet red burn and pasty white.

On Friday, our friend Cyndi arrived with Megan and Ben and we got to play for a few days. We enjoyed time on the water. I got to teach Megan how to drive the Waverunner. We watched movies and enjoyed an afternoon and evening meal at Bear Bottom Resort, one of our favorites.

Our friends left late on Sunday morning and Wendy and I had a couple of hours to get things cleaned up for our next round of guests. Newlyweds Michelle and Austin arrived to spend their honeymoon week at the Playhouse. I was also pleased to get Father’s Day phone calls from Madison in Colorado and from Taylor and Clayton in Uganda and enjoyed catching up with them.

So, the (semi-)calm week is over as I stare down a stormy couple of weeks with multiple business trips around the country along with some impending big deliveries for work.