He had to make a decision. A big one.

It was a night like the one we just read about. It was stormy. Visibility was next to nothing. The Navy officer, whose dream it had been to be in charge of a huge fighting vessel, had been trained for nights like this. Still, he was on edge, ready at any moment for anything that would come along.

And it did. As the ship plowed through the seas, the Navy officer was on duty on the bridge when off to the port he spotted a strange light rapidly closing with his own vessel. Immediately he ordered the signalman to flash the message to the unidentified craft, "Alter your course ten degrees to the south."

Only a moment had passed before the reply came: "Alter your course ten degrees to the north."

Determined that his ship would take a backseat to no other, the captain snapped out the order to be sent: "Alter your course ten degrees! I am the CAPTAIN!"

The response beamed back, "Alter your course ten degrees, I am Seaman Third Class Jones."

Now infuriated, the captain grabbed the signal light with his own hands and fired off. This is where his decision comes into play. Knowing this was only a lowly Seaman Third Class, the Captains decision was easy. He barked, "Alter your course, I am a battleship." The reply came back. "Alter your course, I am a lighthouse."

We've all been in positions like that captain. We're in charge. We've earned the position we've been given. We can handle this. We have the experience. We see what we need to see.

And then, as with the Navy Captain, our plans change.

We'll be talking about three life vests this morning. The life vests are our sermon points, and they'll help us both see and desire a deeper relationship with Christ.

The first point is to recognize what the Navy Captain may never come to understand, and that's the following. God has a plan for me, and it's good.

Did the Captain ask God for help? Did the Captain turn to God for direction, or did he, like too many of us, rest on our own credentials, our own laurels, our own experience?

Watch where your ship is going. Likewise, watch what emotion or influence is fueling or propelling your ship. Take note of that emotion you have or influence you are under and ask yourself this: in the situation that is right before you, are you at the helm of your boat, or is God? Like the Captain, no one wants to be on a collision course for disaster, but are you recognizing the light in your life as necessary direction?

God has a plan for you, and it's good.

If you've ever been out at sea, or spent time on the beach along the ocean, you know that horizon is far, far off. You can see a long way out over such a flat surface, but you still can't see all that God has for you, and to bust out of the boat you are in, to break free from that place where you feel cooped up spiritually, you have to grab that first lifejacket, the one that says that God has a plan for me, and that plan—though I may not see it entirely—is good for me.

Recently, I spoke with someone who is in a place of pain. Tears were streaming down this person's face in a conversation we did not have far from this pulpit. I'm going to call this person Randy, though that's not this person's name. Through the tears shed, Randy knew he had to do something about the situations in front of him. Firsthand, Randy has seen God's miracles and transformations take place in the lives of some of those around him including those I've shared where God has been the beacon in my own life, yet Randy is still in the boat, and that boat, just like the one I want you to imagine you are in, is sinking. Randy's boat is taking on a lot more water than the tears falling from his face. Yet Randy still isn't reaching for the plan that God has for him.

Like the lighthouse in the story we just heard of the Navy Captain and the Seaman Third Class, God is sending you signals. That's our second lifejacket this morning. Again, it's this. God is sending you signals.

Revisit the scripture in the narthex. Proverbs 3:5-6 tells us to "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will set your paths straight." As God directs your path, He will lead you and remove any hindrances. He wants you in His perfect will more than you do. To make this happen, get out of your boat.

To repeat, the first point this morning you need to take home is that God has a plan for you and that plan is good. Next is this. God is sending you signals.

We definitely have a nautical theme this morning. And when I think of sinking boats, one great one comes to mind—only this one wasn't a boat, it was the ship of dreams, the Titanic.

To this day what I wrestle with is the time between the Titanic scraping against the ice burg and the ship actually sinking. It didn't happen in moments. It happened over the course of hours. Yes, from the time the ship first hit ice to its sinking, several hours lapsed, giving what to me was time for both passengers and crew to devise a way to get most—if not nearly everyone—safely off board into lifeboats or make-shift lifeboats.

Why didn't this happen? Thorough rescue plans didn't happen because too many people on that luxury cruiser were like the Navy Captain whose ship came too close to the lighthouse. Too many people on board the Titanic were also like Randy, the one who talked with me a few days ago. None of these people I just mentioned are living in the now.  If you want your spiritual life to grow, you have to live in the now. You have to live in the present.

Egos get in the way, and that's why people sink. Egos get in the way, that's why people go down, or stay down. Pride, stubbornness, and self-centeredness are reasons people never hear Jesus and step out from a place that's hurting them. And they're not hearing Jesus because they are not living in the now.

Live in the now. That's what our final lifejacket says. Live in the now. Randy is doing two things: holding onto the past, and hoping for the future. He isn't living in the now. He doesn't see what is right before him. Randy is locked into what has been and refuses to see what could be. Sure, Jesus is here. Sure, Jesus is close. Sure, Randy thinks his spiritual life is growing, but it isn't. He's not taking a step. He's not hopping out of a boat that is hurting him.

Randy isn't alone. The Navy Captain isn't alone, either. He's living in his past. He's resting on his credentials. And those who met icy deaths that April evening, well, I imagine many of them have a message for you. Live in the now. Recognize what is happening to you in the moment. All we have is the present tense. Live in it. Listen to it.

Let me share something from Wayne Cadeiro's book, Dream Releasers. Cadeiro didn't know about all the natural gas wells here when he penned his book, but nevertheless he writes that "The richest place on the earth is not the diamond mines of South Africa or the gold caches of Ecuador. It is not the oil fields of Saudi Arabia, or in the uranium excavations of the Balkans. Neither is it in the mineral deposits of the Dead Sea.  No, the richest plot of land on this planet is in your very own neighborhood. You might even have passed by it this morning. It's the cemetery.

That's right! The graveyard is the wealthiest place in all of creation. Beneath those rectangular pieces of sod lie countless unsung melodies and unwritten poems. The grassy plots overflow with brilliant ideas that could have transformed entire communities, rehabilitated the lost and born hope to the weary. Our burial grounds reek with unattained successes and unrealized dreams."

Why? Why is this so? Because people aren't living in the now. People, though they hear Jesus' call, don't accept that God has a plan for them, and that plan is good. God has a plan for you, and it's good! People don't hear that God is always sending us signals. People aren't living lives in the now.

Turn to God. Trust in God. Hear this from the prophet Isaiah who in 65:24 says, "I will answer them before they even call to me. While they are still talking to me about their needs, I will go ahead and answer their prayers!"

I will go ahead, God says, and will answer your prayers. I will take you out of dangerous places, I will take you out of constricting places, I will take you out of troubling places, I will take you out of confining places...just get out of your boat and follow me.

At the start of this sermon, I asked you to imagine two things. I asked you to imagine that you are in a boat. I also asked you to imagine that boat you're in is sinking. If you go it alone, you're going to sink. If you rely on yourself, you're going to go down.

If, however, you listen to our Savior—and you listen to our Savior by recognizing that he has plan for you and that plan is good, that he sends signals—you'll be living in the now.  If you live in the now, you have all you need to step up your faith and step out of that boat.