Articles
Drifters
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We should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting... (Eph. 4:14)
Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away. (Heb. 2:1)
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On October 1, 1931, the cargo ship SS Baychimo was caught in a winter storm near Barrow, Alaska. The ship became stuck in sea ice, and after several weeks of fruitless waiting--and with the ship sustaining damage from the pressure--the crew and the ship's cargo were airlifted back to civilization. The ship was abandoned to its frozen fate.
However, instead of sinking, the ship continued to drift around the Arctic Ocean. Over the next several decades, it was seen and even boarded a few times by passing ships or Inuit seal hunters. The last reported sighting was in 1969, almost forty years after it was abandoned. Its ultimate fate is unknown.
The story of the Baychimo is a fitting image of the way in which many people today live their lives. Having no guidance from a higher power, they drift along in the ever-shifting currents of a culture that is indifferent to their welfare. They meander aimlessly through life, without purpose or direction, at the mercy of whatever winds are blowing around them. Like the Baychimo, their fate is determined by the whims of a merciless environment.
Even committed Christians can slip into this state of lethargy. We get so wrapped up in the day-to-day grind of life that we lose sight of the goal before us and start to drift away from the hope that once animated our souls. We abandon our faith, not through conscious study and choice, but through a creeping indifference toward a higher objective.
The only way we can avoid that fate is to "give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard.” We must build personal Bible study and contact with our faith community into our daily routine. God has provided resources to keep the torch of faith burning bright, but it's up to us to use them. Stoke the fires! Bust up the growing ice floes! Push forward toward the goal!
Drifters never reach their home port. Eventually they are lost to the elements, victims of a self-inflicted apathy.
Don't be a drifter.
--David
