God Our Shepherd
One of my heroes is named Arthur Allen. I don’t imagine that many of you know his name, but I think he should be one of your heroes, too. For thirty-five years, Art worked as the Coast Guard’s only oceanographer. During that time, he became obsessed with studying drift characteristics, with learning the ways things move when they are dropped into the ocean. He worked on estimating the probable course and speed of drifting survival craft—things like lifeboats, or overboard passengers floating in life vests. From there, he started studying how kayaks drift, or motorboats, or capsized sailboats. What happens during the tides at different times of day? What difference does it make if the wind is blowing at 5 miles-per-hour or 30? Where would this person be after 30 minutes, or 60 minutes, or 4 hours? He did most of this on his own accord by tossing various objects into the Long Island Sound, where he lives, measuring their specific drift patterns.
Art’s research was then incorporated into a computer modeling program he pioneered called the Search and Rescue Optimal Planning System, which predicts where objects at sea will be found. In the late 1990s, he led the development of the first version, spending more than three years writing algorithms and testing prototypes. It went online in 2007. The current version—used by the Coast Guard and other international maritime organizations—is credited with saving about a thousand lives a year.
For most of human history, if you were lost at sea, there was very little chance you would be found. Now, in large part because of Art’s work, the U.S. Coast Guard finds 10 people for every 3 they do not, meaning that you are more likely to be found than not, which was not the case until very, very recently. All because Art became obsessed with studying drift patterns, with finding things that were lost at sea.
Most people who are saved don’t know Art’s name, and never will. They take their photograph with the team that rescued them, as they should, but most survivors remain unaware of just how miraculous it is that they were found, and just how much this miracle has to do with Art Allen, who loves to find things lost at sea.
If you’ll shift with me to this new metaphor, God is obsessed with studying drift patterns. He loves finding those who are lost at sea. He is most fully himself when he is searching and finding, gathering those who are scattered and bringing them back to safety. Where did this person go overboard, and how strong was the wind blowing? How long have they been adrift, and where are they likely to be? What will it take to rescue them?
The church is traditionally depicted as an ark, a harbor of safety from the storms of life. Perhaps, on this side of our recent divisions and scandals, it seems more like a lifeboat, or even just a piece of driftwood. Imagine it however you’d like, the point remains—we are floating in the midst of a storm in which many people have lost their way. Our text promises us that God will bring them back. And if we make room for them, God will keep us afloat together with the buoyancy of his love.
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From a sermon on Ezekiel 34.
