Halloween night seventeen years ago brought the apex of a storm in the North Atlantic a storm that has become immortalized. But it is unjust to call it simply a storm. It was really a Noreaster that swallowed up a forming hurricane. So, not just *a* storm, it was *the* storm the perfect storm. The drama that unfolded that day has become the subject of a bestselling book and a blockbuster movie. The book, more than the movie, really goes into the background of the lives of the crew of the Andrea Gail who were all lost at sea as well as the para-rescuers who also found themselves in need of being rescued. One of these was sergeant John Spillane. I havent read the book myself, yet, but I have heard that it gives this sergeant describing how a rescuer worker will first gauge a victims health by a system called alert and oriented times 0-4. Alert and oriented times zero means that an individual is completely unaware of his surroundings. He does not even know who he is. The level of consciousness goes up until you reach alert and oriented times four which is being completely aware and able to react to your surroundings. It is said that a rescue worker, very briefly, goes through the same stages when first making impact with the water. Upon first he is aware of nothing beyond the fact that he is cold and in pain. This is alert and oriented times zero. Before moving, the first thing the diver needs to orient himself with is up. This is alert and oriented times one. Upon breaking the surface, the first thing a rescue worker will do is make contact with their source, the helicopter. This is to let the others know that they are OK, but also it gives them a fixed reference point for all that needs to follow. This is alert and oriented times 2. Alert and oriented times 3 is when they gauge the direction and intensity of the environment around them but also the direction of those who need to be rescued. When this is done they are now ready to move out and accomplish their mission. In a matter of seconds from impact, they have arrived at alert and oriented times four. Now they need to hurry to accomplish the task they have been sent to do, because, slowly, the environment around them will pull them back down the same path as it is already doing to the victims that they need to help. Everybody in life is, spiritually, at one of these levels or another. The majority of the world is actually living at the first two. Many people all around us are walking dead and they dont even care. They are not aware of their own spiritual state and would even mock those who would try to enlighten them. They are living at alert and oriented times zero. There are others who are drowning and it does concern them, but they dont know how to find the surface. Desperately they try to make their way to the top, but they are swimming in the wrong direction. It might be spiritualism, or rationalism. Maybe science or perhaps Christian Science. The fact is, these people realize that there is more to life, but they dont know how to find it. They are stuck at alert and oriented times one. We do have a source. Those that have broken the surface will immediately recognize Gods spotlight on their lives. Communication between them and the one above can begin and it is impossible to stay above water without being aware of that Source, God, from that point on. But we cannot stop at two. As our life in Christ begins to grow we will begin to recognize the world around us for what it is. Finally, we move on to four. We begin to go out and accomplish the mission we have been sent here for. So my question is where are you on this scale? Are you content at zero in your drowning bliss? Do you recognize that there is more to life but feel that you have been swimming in the wrong direction? We have created a Christian subculture that has made it easy to get stuck at two. It is easy to be fully aware of the God who has saved us while we remain blissfully ignorant of the storm tossed and dying world that needs rescuing. Perhaps like me, who seems to be all too often stuck at three. We are aware of the needs of those around us but we, or at least I, dont have the courage or the motivation to actually get on with it. God, help us to move on to all that we have been called to do. Dont let me just sit here treading water until You come back for me. As You have caused my heart to break and my eyes to see, also help my hands to reach and my feet to go. Help me not to forget that the glory of God is man fully alive. Help me to live out a life that is fully alert and oriented.
