Cast Away

Have you ever read the old classic book Swiss Family Robinson or seen the Disney movie?   The movie was always a family favorite in our home when the kids were young.  The story portrays a family that sails off to a new country for a fresh beginning only to find themselves as the sole survivors on a uncharted island after being shipwrecked in a fierce storm.  The Disney movie tends to be a fairly loose interpretation of a novel written in 1812 by Swiss pastor Johann David Wyss entitled “Der Schweizerische Robinson” (literally: The Swiss Robinson).  In the Oxford Companion to Children’s Literature (Oxford 1995) it is noted “that with all the expansions and contradictions over the past two centuries (this includes a long history of abridgements, condensations, Christianizing and Disney products), Wyss’s original narrative has long since been obscured.  The closest English translation to the original is William Godwin’s 1816 translation, reprinted by Penquin Classics.”

For my purposes though, the original intent of showing how a family must depend on its own ingenuity, abilities and faith comes through sharp and clear.  I’ve always been a bit of an adventurer as well as one who likes to stray from the beaten path others have taken in life and repeatedly found this movie to an encouragement to whatever new project I was working on at the time.  2 Timothy 1:7 states that “God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.”   (NKJV)  The well known Pastor, Bible Teacher and writer E.W. Kenyon stated that the word “power” in this verse would better be translated as “ability.”  If that be so, then this verse would be the perfect foundation to stand and depend on if one suddenly and unexpectedly found themselves as a “Cast Away” from their normal course of life.

As I studied in the Word this morning, the Lord showed me how a “Cast Away” is one who is separated from everything he is used to.  He is separated from his network of family and friends as well as from all his resources.  This individual has nothing left but to look to himself for survival.  The Christian though, is not left completely without resources.  According to 2 Timothy 1:7 he, like the old ‘80’s and early ‘90’s television character MacGyver,  always having his roll of duct tape and his Swiss army knife in the form of God’s abilities present within him!

In any new and/or unexpected situation, the Believer has only to seek the Lord’s guidance, and answers will avail themselves to him.  A scripture such as Romans 8:6 quickly becomes perfectly clear where it is stated that “the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace.”  (English Majority Text Version)  When surprises come our way that have the potential to shake us all the way down to our boots, it becomes imperative that we “focus on Jesus, the source and completer of our faith”  (Hebrews 12:2 –paraphrased)

So in one respect, you could say that we should always have the mindset of a “Cast Away” as we are always ready to look to Him for the solution to the various predicaments we face in our daily lives.  We are always ready to find His ability in us, so that we can experience His victory.  Once you find yourself living in that lifestyle, you will tend to face each day not in the fear and trembling that the mother in Disney’s Swiss Family Robinson did, but with the thought of nothing but adventure and confidence as that of young Francis.  “You don’t have to worry now, I caught my tiger!”  Have a great day.  Stay in tune to His Word and keep asking yourself… “What TIGERS am I expecting to CATCH today?”