Have you heard of Neptune? Perhaps you have heard of Poseidon; according to the Romans and Greeks of antiquity, they ruled over the sea and all that happened within it. Sailors for centuries referred to these gods as having kept a ledger, a log book of when a sailor acted as a good seaman, or conversely when a sailor acted in a way undeserving of safe passage. When a sailor would take care of his ship, buy provisions, and check charts and maps before setting sail, along with many other things, this was thought to earn him favor with the gods.

Does this have anything to do with modern sailing or spirituality? That is a good question and one to which I owe my appreciation for a childhood sailing on the Great Lakes and the writing of John Vigor. John refers to this question in his Black Box Theory, which is when you as a seaman do something good, something which you ought to do because it increases your safety, averts an unforeseen disaster, or simply keeps your ship in good shape; these things earn you a point for the box. Then when the storm hits, disaster strikes, your plans change, etc, you cash out the points and the goodwill that Poseidon had for you. It is no more than a metaphor for understanding preparedness.

In the Spiritual life, we are all sailing a ship, and while we do not deal with Posiden, we do deal with an all-loving, merciful, and omnipotent God. When we are sailing in our Spiritual life, we are called to do things even when we may not feel like it, when they seem tedious, unproductive, and downright unfruitful. In the same way, when sailing a ship, you check your ropes, gauges, and charts even though there is no pressing reason. God does not keep points; He is not keeping a tally to dole out punishments. However, we do these things to be prepared for God!

When the storm hits, God remains present to us. He does not leave when the sea gets rough; quite the opposite. Instead, the preparations are for our benefit; they allow us to more easily notice and see God in the rough moments because we made sure our prayer, fasting, and almsgiving; that our mind, body, and soul were in the best condition to receive all that God has to give.