{"id":5529,"date":"2026-06-24T08:22:15","date_gmt":"2026-06-24T12:22:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/?p=5529"},"modified":"2026-06-24T08:22:15","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T12:22:15","slug":"pursue-the-one","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/24\/pursue-the-one\/","title":{"rendered":"Pursue the One"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast<\/em>,\u00a0click here<\/a>

Norwegian explorer\u00a0Thor Heyerdahl was gripped by a compelling idea.

Was it possible that the indigenous people of South America, centuries before Columbus, had actually sailed across thousands of\u00a0miles of open water and helped populate the Polynesian islands of the South Pacific?

Heyerdahl and five companions decided to see if such a thing were even possible.

In 1947, they built a crude raft out of balsa logs, hemp, and materials they presumed would have been available to the primitive communities living on the western coast of South America.\u00a0They named the raft Kon-Tiki<\/em> after an ancient Incan god.\u00a0\u00a0

On a late April day they departed Peru and headed west, powered by nothing but the trade winds and the Humboldt Current.\u00a0\u00a0

It’s worth noting that Heyerdahl was terrified of water.\u00a0He had almost drowned twice during childhood.\u00a0

Now he and his crew were heading into one of the great “empty spaces” on the surface of the Earth \u2013 a vast\u00a0stretch of water with few islands \u2013 in a raft that might not even hold together.

The men quickly discovered that Kon-Tiki<\/em> was exceedingly maneuverable.\u00a0But it proved impossible to slow the boat down.\u00a0If anything disappeared over the side, it was best simply to let it go.

That policy seemed wise enough until about 60 days into the trip, when they were thousands of miles from land.\u00a0Herman Watzinger suddenly lost his footing and fell overboard.

Kon-Tiki,<\/em> at the\u00a0moment, was being driven by a strong wind in heavy seas.\u00a0Watzinger swam as hard as he could to keep up with the raft, but he rapidly\u00a0became exhausted and fell behind. Soon he disappeared behind the rising and falling waves.\u00a0\u00a0

What could they do?\u00a0Knute Haugland quickly made up his mind.

He fastened a rope around his waist and dived into the water. Haugland went back for his friend.\u00a0He found\u00a0Watzinger, threw his arms around him, and waited for the others to reel them both back in.\u00a0\u00a0

After a journey of 101 days and 4,300 miles, Kon-Tiki<\/em> crunched into a Polynesian coral reef.\u00a0All six men who began the voyage were there at the end because Knute Haugland believed he had been called to\u00a0pursue the one who was lost.\u00a0\u00a0

In Luke 15, Jesus tells\u00a0a story with a similar theme.

A shepherd caring for\u00a0100 sheep discovers that one of them is missing.\u00a0In the barren wilderness of the Middle East, being lost and alone is a death sentence.\u00a0Jesus affirms that his Father is thrilled that 99 sheep are safe at home.\u00a0But God is also relentlessly passionate about pursuing the one who is lost.

Followers of Jesus, unfortunately, don’t always share that outward-focused perspective.

Christians are famous for creating holy huddles, turning\u00a0inward<\/em> toward those they already know and trust.\u00a0All too many churches present themselves as fortresses \u2013 safe places\u00a0for convinced people. Sheep-hunts feel like risky business.\u00a0

But that is far from the spirit of Jesus’ parable, where a shepherd\u00a0sets out at great personal risk to find\u00a0the one who will never make it home unless pursued<\/em>.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0

All around us there are people like Herman Watzinger, trying to stay afloat as best they can.\u00a0But they’re falling behind and drifting out of sight.\u00a0They cannot reach us.\u00a0We will have to go get them \u2013 with actions such as words of encouragement, interceding prayers, financial support, legal intercession, or perhaps something as simple as an assurance of friendship when everyone else has turned away.

Who is that person in your life right now?

If you feel spiritually safe and sound today, give thanks to God.

And then, by\u00a0God’s grace and power, offer\u00a0a lifeline to someone else.
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To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast,\u00a0click here Norwegian explorer\u00a0Thor Heyerdahl was gripped by a compelling idea. Was it possible that the indigenous people of South America, centuries before Columbus, had actually sailed across thousands of\u00a0miles of open water and helped populate the Polynesian islands of the South Pacific? Heyerdahl and five companions decided to see if such a… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5530,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[157,499,1133],"class_list":["post-5529","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-compassion","tag-evangelism","tag-lost-sheep"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5529","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5529"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5529\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5531,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5529\/revisions\/5531"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5530"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5529"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5529"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5529"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}