Finding Your Life’s Direction: The Importance of Fixed Points

“Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” Psalm 119:105

I’ve used the metaphor of comparing life to a sailing ship. Since it seemed to get the point across rather well, I’m going to stick with it. So here goes.

We built out ship, we untied it from the pier, and we’ve caught the wind. it blew us out of the harbor and onto the open sea. Pretty soon, there’s nothing but water as far as the eye can see. Any land, any islands are below the horizon.

And without a means of knowing where you’re going, you can get lost rather quickly. South becomes West, and East become North. You could starve to death simply because you don’t know which way to go.

I’m a little familiar with this. The desert is very much like a sea. There are no landmarks. The Gulf War has often been called the first GPS war and that would be correct. But not everyone had a GPS unit. We were equipped with a LORAN (LOng RAnge Navigation) systems to get around. These units are made for aircraft and boats and are awesome if you’re traveling in a straight line. Using them on a road means putting “Waypoints.” And that can really get you off course if you make a mistake.

And when a LORAN or GPS goes down, you’re screwed. Especially if it’s the middle of the night and you don’t know any other way of navigating.

The tried and true way of getting the system back up is the same thing I’d do with a computer. I’d simply power it off, give it a moment, and then power it back on. I was the guy using it because I knew two things. I was one of the few people in the company who knew what Right Ascension and Declination was about. I also knew something about computers and basic programming.

It went down. I couldn’t get it back up. And it was dark. We were still several miles from our camp; we were in a pickle.

I looked up at the sky and saw Antares on the horizon.

“See that star,” I said. “it’s called Antares. Drive towards it.”

I knew where the camp was located roughly and the direction we’d been headed. That star was a fixed point in relation to our last known position. so we drove. What I was hoping was to get close enough to hear the generators.

Of course, we might have ended up in Bethlehem with that idea.

But, we arrived bang on target.

To do what I did, I had to know where I was to start. W’d already been headed in that direction. And I’d seen Scorpio dead ahead with its red heart in the middle of my vision. To arrive at my location, I needed something that was fixed. Normally, I’d have used a geological feature like a mountain to do such a thing. But I knew the star wouldn’t move that much while we drove the last few miles. For that short time, it was a fixed point.

And that’s important. You have to have a fixed point in your life.

And that’s the problem with living in our world. There are few, if any, fixed points. We decide the direction based on what someone else is saying or doing. We get behind that person and follow them. While that’s OK, we have to remember these people or causes are almost always just as lost as we are.

We’re looking for a direction in the dark. It’s a little like navigating a dark round room. You don’t know where you are. And unless you’re very careful, your giant leap into the world can become a stumble in the dark.

But let’s put a chair in that room. Better yet, let’s bolt that chair to the floor so it doesn’t move. As long as we know where the chair is, we’re okay.

And we need a fixed point in our lives.

My fixed point is the Word of God. I know a lot of people say it no longer applies to our life. That it’s old and out of date.

My answer is our world has changed. We have more technology than they did back then. But as a people, we face the same problems humans have since the model came out. Our world has changed. We haven’t. Don’t believe me. Watch or read the News. We have the same hates, lusts, and solutions we had ten thousand years ago.

The song has changed. But it still the same dance.

And that’s why I read my Bible. That’s why I think about what I’ve read. That’s why I work to have a relationship with God. That why I do my best to understand what the Word is saying. It’s a fixed point that interestingly enough, moves along with me.

In many ways, it’s like the stars ancient mariners used to find their way across the ocean. They sailors move but the stars remain. As long as you know where they are, you can figure out where you are.

And that’s how it is with the Word. As long as I know what it says, then I know where I am. I may have to figure out how it applies to me, but it always does in one form or another.

The word of God the fixed point in my life. It’s what I guide by.

And without it, I’m lost at sea.