Most of you know that Don Rummel pilots hot air balloons. I’ve never been in one but it seems like such a neat thing to do. I was asking him one day about how you navigate a balloon like that. In my mind, when you launch, you have in mind a spot you are trying to get to. I thought maybe the winds blow in different directions at different altitudes and so by increasing or decreasing your height you could control where you go. So asked him, how do you steer a balloon. His reply: you don’t. You take off and basically go where ever the wind blows you. Then you look for a spot to land and hope that whoever is picking you up can get to you.
A hot air balloon has no means of going in a desired direction. It is simply pushed along in whatever direction the wind is going. You may have in mind to go to Little Rock or St. Louis. But the chances are slim that you will actually end up there just by letting the wind decide where to go. If you have a destination in mind, you need do something different than just going with the flow.
Our culture moves in all sorts of different directions. And it’s easy to just go along with the flow. But what is the destination you’re aiming for? Do you want to end up in Heaven? I’m sure most people would say that that is where they want to go. However, you will not get to Heaven by accident any more than you will get to Little Rock by going along with the wind currents. Sometimes you’re going to have to go against the current (Rom 12:2). You’re going to have to consult a map (Ps 119:105). Then you’re going to have to put in the work to move that direction (Luke 9:23).
I hope to someday go on a hot air balloon ride. However, I pray that I never go with the flow.