The following story is fictitious, I made it up to make a point. An old sea captain named Captain Smith lived in Bedford, Massachusetts, during the time of the great sailing ships. He was renowned, legendary, and most revered as the most successful of all sea captains of the day. He worked harder, stayed out longer, and lost fewer men while catching more fish than anybody else.

Captain Smith was often asked about his uncanny ability to stay out so long without navigational equipment. He'd once been gone for two years without coming home for a point of reference. When asked how he could do this Captain Smith simply replied,"Oh, I just go up on the deck and listen to the wind and rigging. I get the drift of the sea, look up at the stars, and then set my course."Well, times changed in Bedford. The big insurance companies moved in and said they could no longer insure the ships if the captains didn't have a certified and properly trained navigator on board. They were terrified to tell the Captain, but to their amazement he said, "If I must, I will go and take the navigational courses."Captain Smith graduated high in his class, and having greatly missed the sea, he immediately took off for a long voyage. On the day of his return, the whole town turned out to welcome him back. They were also anxious to ask him the question: "Captain Smith, how was it having to navigate with all those charts, equations and equipment?"The Captain sat back and let out a long, low whistle. "Oh," he replied, "it was simple. Whenever I wanted to know my location, I'd go to my cabin, get out my charts, my maps and my tables, work the equations and set my course with scientific precision. Then I'd go up on deck and listen to the wind and rigging, get the drift of the sea, look at the stars, and go back and correct the errors that I had made in computation."

Wouldn't it be a grand thing to put that much trust in God? To listen to all the voices, ideas, opinions, suggestions, theories, etc. that so many people have to offer to us. Being tempted and pulled in all different directions by Satan and his followers. To come up with all those fine, logical, scientific plans all by ourselves which lead us to the conclusion that we know better than God how to run our lives and the affairs of the whole world. Then take the time to walk up on deck and spend some quiet time in meditation and consider the eternal Word and then go back down below and make the necessary adjustments to my life!

Eric