Going Against the Flow

"Fifteen hours!!  I can't remember the last time I was ever stuck in a seat for fifteen hours...."  I muttered with dread as I struggled to put on my running tights.  No, I wasn't planning to go out for a run.  I donned the pair of shiny skin-hugging Spandex tights to make sure that my legs wouldn't swell up during the torturous flight to Taiwan the Monday after Thanksgiving, a necessary journey as my mother was scheduled to have major surgery there later that week.  I had been to Taiwan several times over the past years, but I recalled that the non-stop flights used to be considerably shorter in duration.  Given the recent increases in fuel prices, I figured that the airlines were making the planes fly more slowly to save fuel.  Thankfully, the return flight was a shade under twelve hours of flight time, more or less similar to my previous experiences.

The discrepancy between the westbound and eastbound flights between Los Angeles and Taiwan appears to be largely caused by the jet stream.  During the flight to Taiwan, the on-board video display indicated that the plane was facing a 70 mph headwind, while the same display on the return trip showed a 100 mph tailwind.  Crunch the numbers, and the three-hour difference in flight times seems quite reasonable.  Incidentally, wearing tights underneath my pants turned out to be a good thing, as my feet and legs did not swell up during the flight.

Shortly upon my return from Taiwan, I went to the gym to use the indoor swimming pool.  As a novice swimmer with only two months of swimming practice, I was constantly tinkering with my technique, and was adjusting my arm position, stroke rate, breathing, head position, and leg kicks as I struggled across the length of the 25-meter pool.  I noticed that when I was swimming well, that I would swim across the pool with fewer arm strokes and less fatigue, and I used that to gauge my fledgling aquatic skills.  After several pool crossings, I noticed that I would invariably swim slower in one direction compared to the opposite direction regardless of what I tried.  This perplexed me for a while, until I realized that the pool was shooting out water from one end and draining from the opposite end, effectively causing a directional current, so that I was sort of swimming upstream one way, and downsteam the other way.  I couldn't really feel the current while standing in the water, but the little bit of flow accounted for a difference of about two arm strokes.

Moving against the current requires more effort, whether one is flying against the jet stream, running against the wind, or swimming upstream.  It is often necessary to go against the flow in order to reach one's destination; however, many of us in life become distressed and think that we're headed the wrong way when we face strong currents against us, whether they are in the form of dissenting opinions, unpopular ethical or moral choices, risks or tangible losses.  We tend to believe that we are "in God's will" when things are going well, and when we face challenges, we fold and quit, and rationalize that God wants us to go another way.  Unfortunately, God does not always work this way.

After Jerusalem fell to the hands of Nebuchadnezzar and Babylon, the prevailing current of the times beckoned Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah to eat and drink assigned portions of the best foods from the king's table, but they stood their ground, and refused to be defiled by the royal food and wine.  Going against the flow meant that they alone among their peers had to endure three years of consuming nothing but vegetables and water, and they were eventually rewarded for their faith.  This same steadfastness later caused Daniel to be thrown into the lion's den and his friends to be thrown into the fiery furnace, but also to be delivered from them.

One must sometimes go against the flow and go with God in order to discover His will for our lives.

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. (Romans 12:2)