Years ago, on one of the first cruises I ever took, I visited the bridge of the behemoth ocean liner and spoke with the captain. I asked him about the biggest seas he'd ever sailed in with that particular boat. He told me he had been in seas with 90 foot waves. I was quite impressed and inquired about how he'd survived. He told me that while 90 foot waves were significant, and most certainly unpleasant, that his boat could handle them quite handily as long as it didn't lose power. "If you lose power in big seas in any boat, you're in serious trouble." Under power, he explained, the boat can stay perpendicular to the waves. Without power, the boat can drift parallel to the waves and be capsized or swamped.

That's the danger of drifting.

In life, we can handle just about anything that comes our way as long as we don't drift; as long as we don't lose power. Our power is the ability to stay intellectually engaged in what is going on. It doesn't mean that we have control over every situation any more than a boat has control over the waves. Rather it is our ability to engage the situation with intention.

Drifting is not the same as waiting. Waiting is an intentional choice. Drifting is choosing not to choose. One mysterious passage in Isaiah tells us to "wait upon the Lord." We wait with intention believing that something will happen although we know not when. We wait when we pause to reflect and contemplate for insight. Drifting is different. It is listless: it neither waits nor acts, and in that condition it doesn't even take particularly large waves in life to capsize the drifter.

Ever heard it said of someone that he stopped to think and forgot to start again? That's drifting. We should pause - to reflect, to relax, or to reenergize - but not to check out.

Our lives tend to follow our minds. We can become distracted or simply lulled into complacency and before we know it, we're drifting. We've lost the power of intellectual engagement and purpose not because of any physical failure but by a lack of attention.

As the old saw goes, casualness creates casualties.

Often we are best able to engage life when we have the energy to either approach challenges head on or skirt around them with agility. Under power we stay perpendicular to the situation or circumstance. We get capsized when we drift into situations with no idea of what to do.

Extreme drifting can lead to unemployment, failed relationships and abandoned dreams. While the problem of homelessness in our culture is a complex one, no doubt some of the homeless began drifting and allowed the current of circumstance to carry them to their current situation.

A little drifting can occur in any area of life: home life, relationships, health or work. In addition to the risk of drifting in one of these important areas, the secondary danger is the drift spreading to other and often even more critical areas.

Are you perpendicular to the waves in your life? Better to make this assessment when the swells are small, the challenges few. Staying engaged - intellectually and physically - is important at all times but essential in the turbulent seas of contemporary life.