Tag: sailing

Take Your Soundings

Neal Pollard

In the sixth chapter of Scripture, we read of the first vessel intended to travel upon the seas. Secular history attests to seafaring vessels being around at least 6,000 years, with perhaps the Egyptians pioneering the way around the time of Abraham. It is thought that as early as the second millennium a crude means of measuring the depths of the water had been developed. Certainly, the use of a lead weight and line measurements were in practice by the time we read about Paul’s shipwreck and the events leading up to it (Acts 27:28). One such event prior to the shipwreck involved sailors who “took soundings and found” the sea’s depth “to be twenty fathoms; and a little farther on they took another sounding and found it to be fifteen fathoms.” This was to prevent running aground “somewhere on the rocks” (Acts 27:29), so they put down anchors.

With regard to our personal lives, we need to regularly “take soundings.” Paul says it this way: “Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you–unless indeed you fail the test?” (2 Cor. 13:5). While it is far easier to analyze how others are living, how committed or uncommitted they are, Paul does not suggest this. It is far too easy for us to drift from where we ought to be (cf. Heb. 2:1). We may have been close to Christ last year or last month, but what about now? What about doctrinally? Are we balanced or have we moved toward extremes whether loosing where God has bound or binding where God has not? What about in our family life versus time spent with the job or personal pursuits? How is our marriage?

See, self-examination is so crucial yet for most of us so neglected. It is imperative that we frequently “take soundings” of our lives. How tragic for us to allow ourselves into dangerous waters just because we have been careless about maintaining proper spirituality and negligent about moving closer to God. I am convinced that unfaithful attendance, immorality, materialism, apostasy, and a thousand other harmful things are allowed to grow in our lives because we have ceased getting a gauge of where we are in our personal, spiritual lives. Please keep taking those soundings and determine how deep or shallow your faith is!

Are You Stuck In The Doldrums?

Neal Pollard

According to NASA’s Earth Observatory, “The Intertropical Convergence Zone, or ITCZ, is the region that circles the Earth, near the equator, where the trade winds of the Northern and Southern Hemispheres come together” (via http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov).  The ITCZ (“itch”) is a major weather player, affecting rainfall, storms, and wind currents across the world along the equator but also extending north and south as the position of the earth to the sun changes seasonally.  Another feature of the ITCZ is the dead calm it can cause at sea, a weather event sailors long ago named “the doldrums.”  A sailing ship that gets caught in that area of the world can be stuck there for days due to windless conditions. It is said to be from an Old English word that gives us the modern word “dull” (via online Etymology Dictionary, http://www.etymonline.com).

Have you ever heard someone say that they were stuck in the doldrums?  They mean they feel a prolonged sense of sadness and depression. Sometimes, this can occur and the sufferer does not even know exactly why.  Since we live in an imperfect world, times like these are inevitable. People disappoint us, discouragement paralyzes us, sadness overwhelms us, and anxiety overtakes us.  What can be done if we find ourselves “stuck in the doldrums”?

Smile.  A dose of determined joy and deliberate happiness may be necessary.  Proverbs 15:13-15 says, “A merry heart makes a cheerful countenance, but by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken. The heart of him who has understanding seeks knowledge, but the mouth of fools feeds on foolishness. All the days of the afflicted are evil, but he who is of a merry heart has a continual feast.”

Serve.  Distracting yourself from the doldrums may remedy them. There is no better way to accomplish this than by seeing someone in need and helping them.  As Christians, we have been called to “through love serve one another” (Gal. 5:13).

Supplicate.  No earthly power may be able to put wind in your sails, but the power of God in heaven never fails.  We should ask, when in our doldrums, have I spoken to God about it?  Paul says, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God” (Phil. 4:6).  Supplication is a noun meaning “to make known one’s particular need” (Zodhiates, δέησις).

Hang in there!  The winds will resume and push you forward.  Just be alert when they begin to blow so you can leave those doldrums behind you!