By far, without a doubt, hands down, the greatest account I have ever read dealing with the history of the United States comes from a book called “Your Navy” and written by a man named Theodore Roscoe. Much of American history is really US Navy history, after all. How good is this book? One person who read it a few years ago was a self-proclaimed history and reading hater, and he was spellbound. I have had to forcibly get it back from another friend who was so taken with it he would not return it until he found a copy for himself. And there lies the only problem with the book: it does not exist. Oh, I have a copy here at the house, but I have searched the internet, Amazon, Walden, Barnes and Noble, and anywhere else that even hints of selling books. “We can find any book ever made” many of these places proudly proclaim. But not this one. Amazon told me I must be mistaken on the title and author. Barnes and Noble went so far as to tell me to quit wasting their time looking for fictitious books. I’ve scanned in the cover and e-mailed it to both of them in my quest. No good, they either washed their hands of me or think I am pulling some elaborate hoax. I have searched looking for someone to even admit they have a copy as well, but thus far I have never found anyone else with one. I even contacted the US Navy (of course!) who also would not admit that the book exists and had no record of any book even resembling the one I have. Hmmmmm.

While searching for this book, I found several other Navy publications written by Mr Roscoe. My wife, much to my delight, bought me his two biggest works for my birthday one year: Submarine Operations of WWII and Destroyer Operations of WWII. The books are designed to teach a sailor the history of his arm of the service, as well as delve into tactics and technical areas. The books all tell it like it is, the good with the bad, but overall you feel this strong national pride and esprit de corps. The Submarine Operations book is particularly good reading, and I just finished it.

One thing a submarine needs, like any other ship, is ballast. A river doesn’t flow aimlessly across the ground, it cuts a channel into the earth which guides it along. Ships are very similar, they need a fair portion that extends down below the surface which helps keep them on track. Without this they blow all over the place. At sea, having the right amount of ballast is worth its weight in gold. And thus my message today.

Christians also need ballast. When one first obeys the gospel, they are shallow in knowledge. They could be led astray or just blow all over the place, in a spiritual way. One thing we can do to help them stay firmly in the truth is to stay firmly in the truth ourselves! Give them all the knowledge and encouragement we can, by studying with them and letting them know we care. Teach them by our good example how to be meek, patient, and generous. As their knowledge builds, as they extend further into the truth of the word, they will become more and more resistant to the tides of the devil. Soon, if they grow in truth, this ballast will keep them from capsizing and help them stay upright and on course. You can’t buy your way to heaven – spiritual ballast like this can’t be bought! And it will also help them keep many things into proper perspectives. Like gold.

Wealth is handy, when you need it, and a nuisance when you don’t. Jesus tells us how hard it is for a rich man to go to heaven. If you’ve ever seen the movie “The Jungle Book”, you know the bad guy loads himself down with gold and it sinks him to the bottom of a stream, where it blocks his escape and leads to his death. We also have heard of gold fever, where for the sake of wealth people betray friends, murder partners, and generally throw morality out the window. Gold can be useful for some things, though.

In the early days of WWII, Corregidor needed supplies badly. The USS Trout was sent there, “packed to the gills” with ammo and food. The sub didn’t have enough weight on board after unloading her cargo to safely put back to sea. But the banks helped them out. Trout left port with two tons of gold and 18 tons of silver. Since he didn’t have specific orders, the captain continued his normal patrol and actually torpedoed enemy shipping until someone at HQ woke up and ordered he return to port NOW! To the captain, it was ballast. He had to have it, or he would have been lost.

Without spiritual ballast, more precious than gold, we could be lost too. If you are needing some, load up!

Randy