Castaways

One

The Life of a Castaway 

One of the most popular themes in adventure stories is the theme of a castaway, somebody who ends up by themselves on a deserted island. At least, you hope it’s deserted. Sometimes there are cannibals running around looking to eat you. It could be Ben Gunn in Treasure Island, or Robinson Crusoe, or the Polynesian boy from Call it Courage, or even the guy Tom Hanks plays in Castaway.

It’s a scary place to be. You’re racing the clock against starvation, you have to be brave but avoid accidents because there aren’t any hospitals and everything depends on you. Castaways on desert islands usually exhibit two traits: The desperation of their situation, plus their loneliness, forces them to constantly be doing something. They can’t stop. And the desperation of their situation, plus their loneliness, eventually starts to make them go a little crazy. 

So look around. Do you maybe see a lot of hyperactive, busy, anxious people running around? Do you maybe see one of those people when you look in the mirror? Maybe it’s because you feel like you’re on a desert island, or a desert universe, pretty much alone, and your only hope for survival is yourself. But is that actually true? 

Two

Is that our world? A desert universe?

The atheistic presentation of the universe is that it’s one massive island in the middle of nothingness. It’s a place of chaos and competition. People are just scrambling to survive, to beat everyone else in staking a claim for a job, or a spouse, or a mortgage, or a little digital impact, a little attention, before you go down into the dirt and everyone forgets you. 

Anxiety is the plague, the real pandemic, of the Western world in this millennium. No wonder. If everybody’s their own little Robinson Crusoe, trying to build a life from scratch, no plan, no program, no safety net for happiness. One shot, and then you’re done.

By the way, while you’re trying to cultivate your little corner on the island, you read news about political or natural disasters that have the potential to flatten your little hut, your little life, and bring all your efforts to nothing.

But, of course, if this isn’t a desert island, and if we’re not alone, then everything would be really different. Everything would be much better. In fact, we’re not castaways. We’re created. And we’re children. Which is why life is good.

Three

Child of the King of the Universe

What if this isn’t a desert island, an island with wild animals and cannibals and natural disasters? What if instead this whole universe, far from being a place of chaos and competition, is a sophisticated and intricate system designed by someone who loves you? What if food grew here not by accident, but so that you could enjoy eating? What if the stars and the sun, the birds and the ocean, aren’t random events that just happened, but were actually created for you?

What if even the difficulties you have to undergo, physical suffering, sickness, relationship challenges, professional difficulties, what if all these were vetted by an All-Knowing God, and only these ones were permitted into your life because these are the ones that can best contribute to your personal growth and happiness? Just the way a coach chooses exercises and drills based on what his player needs to develop as an athlete. 

What if every tough thing you’ve ever had to go through was like that? That would be a different story. Then you’re not a castaway. Then you’re the child of the King of the Universe. And this is all for you. That should make a big, big difference to how you handle life. 

Four

Changes the way we look at everything

The son or daughter of the King doesn’t necessarily have an easy life. There are a lot of things to do, a lot of training you need, a lot of responsibilities to assume. But the son or daughter of the King doesn’t worry that everything’s out of control, that they’re on their own, or that everything depends on them. 

They know that they live in an ordered, well-governed kingdom and that even the areas that seem to be chaotic or messy are actually perfectly under control. A child of the King knows that if he or she makes a mistake, or performs badly in some duty, it’s not the end of everything. Nobody dies if the prince has a hard time staying on his horse. No disaster strikes if the princess gets a bad grade in one of her school subjects.

Quite the contrary, as long as they apologize and try to do better next time, there’s no harm done. That’s what this world is: a place we’ve been given, by our Father the King, to prepare us to fill the thrones of heaven, to judge angels, as Jesus says, and reign over all things. It’s important work. But it’s nothing to be anxious over. As long as you trust your Father, the King of the Universe. 

Five

Which way do you see the world?

There are two ways to live in this world. Rely on yourself, believe it all depends on you, because you’re all you’ve got, and you’ve been castaway on a cutthroat planet, a desert island, a desert universe. That’s an anxious way to be. 

Or you can rely on your Father, you can believe that this is your Father’s Kingdom, which He has established to educate and prepare His Children for glory. In which case, no matter what tests and exercises He sends us, and no matter how well or how badly we seem to be performing, as long as we stick to the program there’s nothing to worry about. And there’s a fantastic future coming.

That’s what it means to live in trust. That’s a great way to live.