Just one degree off course while sailing across an expansive ocean will take us to destinations that will be off course by as much as 500 miles. That miscalculation means we could set sail from Hawaii, intending to land in San Francisco and land at Coos Bay, Oregon, to the north, or San Diego, California, to the south. It is a compounding error that carries a potential life-threatening dilemma.

Jesus said of Himself, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End” (Revelation 22:13). This is not simply a statement about Himself. He is the course from the start of our journey–our Alpha moment of belief in Him—all the way to the end of our days–our Omega moment when we depart from this Earth.

Storms can blow us off course. No wind can leave us stationary and motionless. Inattention, dehydration, lack of training, and insufficient supplies can have the same effect. There seems to be no end to the ways in which we can miscalculate our course. At some point, we finally recognize that all our intelligence, our strengths, our resources, and our support systems are not enough to navigate our lives.

We must settle in our hearts once and for all—that only in Jesus can we move and breathe and have our being. He is the beginning and end of all things. It’s to Him we must adjust the rudder of our lives. Jesus is our only sure and trustworthy guide in setting the course of our lives.