Thoughts of Another Traveler…

For those of you who may not know, I recently took up a new hobby.  Since June I have been immersed in the new sport of SCUBA diving.  (Note:  SCUBA stands for “Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus”).   Call it a mild “Mid-life crisis” if you want…my wife often refers to it as such. Diving underwater with this so-called “Underwater Breathing Apparatus” has generated a ton of excitement, presented some neat challenges, and exposed a unique world of adventure for me.   In addition, diving has taught me some new life lessons and reinforced (in a new way) some age-old beliefs.  It may sound crazy to some, but I find being 70 feet under water, completely reliant on a tank of air, several critical pieces of ‘apparatus’ that sustain my swimming and breathing, and a bunch of training—extremely relaxing! 

Recently, I enrolled in a SCUBA Navigation course.  (One thing you quickly learn about this sport is that there is a seemingly never-ending list of specialty courses you can take for continued education and higher certifications—essentially a time and money sink for guys like me who get sucked into the wormhole.)  This course is designed to teach a diver how to navigate “Old-School” style under water under any condition or visibility.  You may or may not know this, but SCUBA diving isn’t always in crystal clear, warm water with 30 feet of visibility.  Sometimes you get very dark, cold water with less than 5 feet of visibility—and let me assure you, it is very easy to get turned around and upside down!  There is a tool that every diver must have and learn how to use effectively—A Compass!  And not the digital app on your phone, or the computer compass on your fancy watch. Those don’t work 70 feet under water.  An honest to goodness, oil-filled, analog, magnetic North compass. 

Now, before I go further, I want to clarify a couple of things.  First, I did not make it very far in the Boy Scouts.  I was thrown out of Cub Scouts because the Den mother’s son called me a very bad name, and I punched him in the nose.  This all occurred before I was able to get my “Compass” badge on my Webelos scarf.  This memory occurred to me as we took out our trusty tool in the classroom setting.  Second, like most men, I think of myself as a perceptive guy when it comes to directions and following a map, so I figured, “How hard can it be to learn how to use a compass?”   And guess what?  After a few tips and tricks in the classroom, and then a walkthrough out in the parking lot on dry ground, I began to smirk at not making Eagle scout.  With my new-found confidence in tow, we headed to the real training ground.  My instructor made me suit up in my SCUBA gear and we jumped into that large body of water.  Step one, I needed to get my headings on the surface, get a sense of direction for my destination, and receive some instructions on the test I was about to take.  Step two, I was to descend to twenty feet deep, establish my bearing and direction using only my compass once again, and swim (while counting my fin kicks) exactly 100 yards in that direction while holding my compass level out in front of me.  If I did not ascend or descend too much, and if I held my bearing correctly, I would eventually come to an underwater line with a buoy marker on it.  Note that I could not see this from the surface, and visibility under water was about 10 feet.  If I failed to hit that buoy marker, then I would fail this part of the test and would have to start over.  Before descending, my instructor gave me some final advice.  First, completely rely on your Compass.  As you are swimming keep your eyes on your compass bearing and straight ahead in the water—your body will always go in the direction your eyes look.  Second, trust what you can’t see by relying on your compass bearing only.  He assured me that that destination buoy was there, but if I veered by just a few degrees at any point in the journey, I would certainly miss it.  Third, stay focused on the bearing and being as level as possible in the water.  The compass only works if it is level, and if I tilted the compass up or down, or swam too shallow or too deep I would miss my mark.  Last, that Compass won’t lie—it is based on the absolute of Magnetic north! 

Rest assured, this was one of the most challenging learning experiences I have had thus far in my SCUBA experience.  This was certainly not as easy as my overconfidence led me to believe.  Using a compass is a learned skill that takes practice and determination.  In case you are wondering, I did ultimately pass the course.  Not only did I have to pass the simple test above, but I had to do a reciprocal course (out in a straight line, perform a 180 degree course change and come back in a straight line), a perfect square (out 100 feet, perform a 90 degree turn 4 times to return to my destination), and a Triangle course (which I am not even going to try to describe because of all the math and angles involved to do this).  In addition, a few weeks later I had to put this training to work in a pitch-black night dive, using only my compass and a dive light at 50 feet deep.  Any logical person might ask, why is this much effort and training needed in order to throw on some “breathing apparatus” and enjoy the underwater world.  A SCUBA person or instructor might say this:  “Imagine you are out in the ocean and you dive down 90 feet deep, catch a swift current, get caught up in the view of the wreck, or just follow a pretty fish swimming away from you.  You soon lose sight of the boat or entry point of your end dive destination.  Or you descend, the visibility goes bad, you lose light penetration and it is too dark to see natural objects or the surface.  You are in unfamiliar territory and do not have any visual reference or familiarity with your surroundings.”  You lose your sense of direction and lose track of which direction you started swimming, and you don’t know which way to swim to return.  You panic, use more breathing air, and end up surfacing 500 yards from the boat or shore you are supposed to return to. Apparently, this happens often to untrained and careless divers.   More specifically with divers who fail to consider the importance of the compass and basics of underwater navigation.

A week or so after learning my newfound skill with a manual compass, I was reviewing a few tips and tricks while reflecting.  A thought came to me.  I felt God’s presence reminding me of this truth, “The Compass works because of one absolute that never changes—Magnetic North.”  The compass is not magic, it is just a tool.  It is a tool that is built for one specific reason.  To keep us tuned into an absolute.  No matter where you are on this planet Earth it always points North.  At high altitude in the mountains, it points North.  Below the sea, in the depths it points North.  We can completely trust it to guide us to our destination.  It will always point us to Magnetic North, no matter where we are, no matter how dark it gets, no matter what obstacles surround us, no matter how lost we are.  All we need to do is re-adjust our focus and make sure our compass bearing has Magnetic North in its rightful place.  I was also reminded of several scriptures. 

King David assures us in Psalm 121 that our God is our Magnetic North and eloquently reminds us where we should focus our compass.    

“I will lift up my eyes to the hills—
From whence comes my help?
My help comes from the Lord,
Who made heaven and earth.

He will not allow your foot to be moved;
He who keeps you will not slumber.
Behold, He who keeps Israel
Shall neither slumber nor sleep.

The Lord is your keeper;
The Lord is your shade at your right hand.
The sun shall not strike you by day,
Nor the moon by night.

The Lord shall preserve you from all evil;
He shall preserve your soul.
The Lord shall preserve your going out and your coming in
From this time forth, and even forevermore.”

Psalms 121 (NKJV)

The author of the book of Hebrews wrote about how we endure and win the race of life in Hebrews 12:

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith,

 let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up.

And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. 

We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith.”

Hebrews 12:1-2 (NLT)

The Apostle Paul relates a similar message in his letter to the believers in the church at Philippi:

“I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection.

But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me.

No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it,

But I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead,

I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.”

Philippians 3:12-14 (NLT)

I know these passages well and have even memorized them over the years.  But suddenly they began to relate to me in a new way.  I began to reminisce about times when I lost focus and forgot which way was absolute magnetic North.  I remembered times on this life  journey when I veered off-course, felt lost in the dark, moved focus away from my destination, or allowed some unforeseen life event (current/visibility/distraction) take control and I ended up in a bit of a panic.  My recent experience with SCUBA diving began to spur some creative thoughts based on my new experiences under water (and my new-found training with a compass).  There are rarely times we see the entire picture clearly, but this can be especially true when we are deep below the surface of water.  On dry land, in the broad daylight, navigating life’s landscape brings few challenges.  Think about those clear days where we can see all around, the Sun is evident in the sky, and we can see for miles…frankly we usually don’t need a compass to see our destination clearly.  Sometimes our life journey is just like that—and boy do we love those days!  However, now that I am diving, I really think life is more often akin to being 70 feet underwater, with low visibility, current pushing us in a direction we don’t want to go, and distractions clouding our focus.  Sure, we have our “Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus” to keep us alive. We might even be a well-trained diver and strong swimmer.  But sometimes even the best and highly trained can get turned around, upside down, lost in the dark, low on air, and end up in panic.  (In my SCUBA training I have learned that diver stress and panic are primary causes of diving injury and/or death – NO, it is not Sharks for those of you who have been led to believe that!).  I certainly think we can all relate to the fact that life’s journey often leads us into situations and conditions that generate confusion, fear, panic, and even darkness—and how easy it can be to forget where we came from, where we are at, and where we need to go. 

I remembered the advice from my SCUBA instructor as I set out on my navigation trial.  “Keep your eyes on your Compass bearing, remember your body will follow your eyes.”  Magnetic North does not deceive us.  But our own sense of direction will fail us often.  Living in a culture geared toward Relativism and Humanism has philosophically all but eliminated the need for an absolute like magnetic North.  We have a highly “educated” society where a good percentage believe that they don’t need any tool that points to God.  We have technology.  We have higher education.  We have Science.  God is not some Omnipotent Creator who sees the entire picture clearly and is our absolute North.  We have all we need within us (or at least on an app on our iPhone).  It is our own intelligence, understanding, and vision that has become our god.  We just follow our desires, our wants, and whatever scientific theory and cultural norm is providing popular direction at the time.  So many people today have a compass that doesn’t point to an absolute magnetic North.  They have built their own compass that is more like the compass that Captain Jack Sparrow has in Pirates of the Caribbean.  It only works for them.  Spins them around in circles.  Often deceives them.  And supposedly points them to their heart’s greatest desire.  Doesn’t take a genius to look around and realize just how many people today are living with their trust only in their own “Self-contained breathing apparatus” and a self-inflated confidence in their own sense of direction.  Problem is that soon they will find themselves swimming in dark waters, lost as they can be, and just about out of air—with no absolute North to reference.

This new hobby of mine has taught me a lot about myself in recent months.  If you haven’t done it recently, go throw yourself into something that you know nothing about.  Humble your pride, become a noob (sorry this is a gamer term…a rookie, a beginner, or someone who thinks they know something that they really don’t know anything about) and soak up some training and knowledge.  Like me, you might find there is a whole new world of experience, skill, and people you didn’t even know existed.  I also discovered that I am still teachable, and I still love to learn which reminds me that I still have a passion for life’s journey.  (Seriously, I have two master’s degrees that hang on the wall that I rarely use…might as well add a bunch of new, cool SCUBA certificates right beside them!) 

Diving has also served to confirm some old ideas in a new way.  I quickly learned just how much diving is symbolic to life.  Sometimes you get to dive in beautiful, clear blue, warm water and it is the experience of the under-water world you dream of.    But you must train for when the conditions change, or emergency comes—because it will.  When it does, you better remember your training and be confident in the tools needed for survival.  I suppose this is why the most recent lesson in navigation had such an impact on me. I was reminded in a powerful new way that I am not capable of navigating life by my own sense of direction. I am even more convinced that an old-fashioned faith compass that keeps my eyes focused on the absolute truth of my creator and love of my Savior is more important now than ever.  I can’t navigate this mess on my own—no matter how good at directions I think I am.  God has revealed himself as the absolute North since the beginning.  He has revealed his truth in creation, power, in love, in forgiveness, and in authority.  He has revealed magnetic North through His Spirit, His Son, and His Word.  My path and my journey are not my own.  I am not self-reliant.  I believe My eternal destination is determined by the course I set every single day and my reliance on the One who started and will complete my journey of faith. 

Finally, I reflected deep and decided that I made another critical error in my youth.  I wished I had not lost my temper in cub scouts and punched that little punk in the nose.  Passing this under-water navigation course for SCUBA would have been a lot easier if I would have had the opportunity to pass compass training in Boy Scouts.  

Prayers for all us today as we navigate this journey with a fixed focus on Jesus!

“Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the instructions Moses gave you. Do not deviate from them, turning either to the right or to the left. Then you will be successful in everything you do.  Study this Book of Instruction continually. Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it. Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do.  This is my command—be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

Joshua 1:7-9 (NLT)