When I was about seven years old, I remember going out on a private pier at Perdido Bay.  A friend, about my age, and his father pulled up to the pier in a small motor boat.  The father told his son to hold the boat to the pier while he went to run a brief errand.  My friend and I were talking, and he let go of the pier and the boat started drifting away from the pier.  I couldn’t reach the boat, and my friend couldn’t reach the pier.  The boat continued to drift.  He didn’t know how to crank the motor, so I watched him drift helplessly out into the bay.

This could to be a picture of where America is today.  God has safely brought us to this point in history where we have enjoyed unbelievable successes.  He has told us to hold on to what is secure and safe, and we will be able to continue the journey He has for us.  Unfortunately, we have let go of the pier and begun drifting.

Here are some 2016 examples of how we as a nation could be drifting.  When I finished college, the polls showed that the number of non-religious people in the United States was just over 3.5 million.  Today the number is 50 million people!  The number of atheists in the U.S. has quadrupled in the past few years!  Are we drifting?

Ruth Provencal has worked five elections in Derry, New Hampshire.  She was recently ordered to stay home by county officials for saying, “God bless you” to voters.  Ruth had made a habit of saying, “Thank you for voting, God bless you” as voters left the polls.  County officials said using the word God violated the state’s ban on electioneering.  Are we drifting?

A 33-year veteran of the Air Force was forcibly removed from a retirement ceremony because he invoked God in a speech.  Are we drifting? 

Monifa Sterling is a U.S. Marine who is appealing her court-martial for refusing to remove a Bible verse from her desk.  She had the verse “No weapon formed against me shall prosper” taped to her desk.  Her supervisors deemed it to be “contrary to good order” because the work place must remain free of “divisive or contentious issues” such as politics and religion.  Are we drifting?

A group of students at the University of California at Irvine voted to remove the American flag from a campus building to avoid “triggering” students who see the flag as a symbol of American “colonialism and imperialism.”  The student group argued that displaying the flag was a form of “hate speech.”  Are we drifting?

The Brookings Institute monitors Twitter.  They have ranked the top nations in the world which make posts on Twitter in support of ISIS.  The United States is ranked fourth.  That’s right – fourth in the number of tweets in support of ISIS!  Only Saudi Arabia, Syria and Iraq ranked ahead of us.  Are we drifting?

In April security guards ordered 50 middle school students from North Carolina to stop singing the National Anthem at the 9/11 Memorial in New York City because it was considered a public demonstration.  Their teacher, Martha Brown, said it was their way of showing respect.  Are we drifting?

There is an answer to drifting!!  I remember that day on the pier when the father returned and saw the boat drifting.  He dove into the water and swam out to the boat, and rescued it and put it back on its correct course. 

My Heavenly Father wants to rescue us!  His greatest desire is to come to us where we are drifting, provide everything that is necessary for us to get back on the right track, and take us where He wants us to go!  Drifting stops when we accept His intervention!  My Heavenly Father is ready to swim!

“If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from Heaven and I will forgive their sin and heal their land” (2 Chron. 7:14).