There is an account  of the great missionary Hudson Taylor, on one of his trips, the ship he was traveling on suddenly lost the wind for their sail boat.The ship was drifting and in danger of being dashed on the rocks. The captain asked Mr. Taylor to pray for wind. Taylor responded to the captain that he would pray but that the captain had to set the sail. In other words be ready for the wind when it started to blow again. The rest of the account after the captain did this, he came back to Mr. Taylor and said he could stop praying because they had more wind than what they knew what to do with.

In Mark 2:1-12, there is the account of 4 friends who brought their paralyzed friend to Jesus for help. When they go to where Jesus was, they could not get into the house because of all the people gathered there to hear Jesus preach and teach. What they did next is the very definition of setting the sail. Instead of giving up, they climbed up on the roof and dug through it to lower Thor paralyzed friend down to Jesus. The result was Jesus forgave the paralyzed man of his sin but also healed him from his paralysis.

It is one thing to say we are praying for others, loved ones but are we really setting the sail? Are we willing to take a risk, get outside-the-box, dig a hole in the roof to bring our loved ones, friends to Jesus? Or will we be detered by the crowds, the enemy or our perceptions of what people might think or say? Let us be like the four friends this week and do whatever it takes to get people to Jesus and let's set the sail and see what God does through our lives.