I listened to an interview with a crew member of a sailing vessel that claimed the record for the fastest sailboat crossing of the Atlantic Ocean. One section of the race put them in part of the ocean where icebergs were frequent. This course was especially harrowing because the fog had become so thick one could barely see the bow of the boat. The crew worked four-hour on/off shifts of rest and work. The crewmember made an interesting comment regarding passing through the iceberg hazard, “We sleep feet forward so our feet, not our heads, take the impact.”

How we position our lives is critical. We can position our lives in many ways, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. We need to keep our wits about us protecting our minds from unnecessary impact with fear. Today, fear fills the airwaves and computer screens.

We have entered dangerous waters on a global scale. China is threatening to invade Taiwan, Russia is amassing military resources at the border with Ukraine and Israel is under serious attack. Here at home, cyber hackers shut down a major pipeline in the eastern United States causing gas shortages and panic buying. In the last three weeks, 10,000 earth tremors swarmed along the coastal region of Oregon and Washington indicating unusual seismic activity as a possible warning of a massive earthquake along the Cascadia Subduction Zone. The potential of social unrest is increasing as many are coming to the end of their patience with ever-fluctuating and tightening government restrictions regarding how we live during the pandemic. A lot is happening. How we position our lives to navigate this section of history will be critical.

Our world is filled with the equivalent of floating icebergs hidden in the deep fog of conflicting narratives ready to sink all we hold dear. How do we as believers navigate these dangerous sections of history? We need to position our lives faith forward, not fear forward.

As sailors hoped to protect their heads sleeping feet forward, we protect our ways of thinking by engaging what comes our way with faith in God. He is the Ultimate Navigator and is never taken by surprise by any of the global and cultural icebergs that cause us to lose sleep.  Living faith forward allows us to find moments of needed rest as we pass through dangerous waters. It also makes us ready to faithfully do our job once we are called back on deck.