Discovery is a thrilling thing ...to find something that has not been known ...

What also may not be known ...is ye whereabouts.

To navigate with any bit of certainty ...ye must have notes, or charts and drawings from those who've gone before ye.

Notes ...or charts, if ye prefer, help keep ye on course.

Of course, that be not important to everyone.

Charts can help guide us and direct our paths by presenting believable data which is as relevant as the reasons and motivation behind collecting it. 

So, what must be also considered is the reasons and motivation behind directing us.  Sadly, those collecting data are not always interested in presenting correct data ...but, more in using skewed data in a self-serving or manipulative ways.

Some of it is not even labeled manipulation ...but, rather politely called 'influence'.  Yet, whose needs are paramount ...the individual or the influence??

There are many influential persons who'd like us to entrust them with our confidence.  And this includes not only politicians, banks, investment brokers ...but, also those who'd aim to radicalize our society, blur our image of morality, and stir us to rebellion through successive changes amid demands for even more change.

Be careful that you don't unknowingly become one of them. You may not think of yourself as an influential person ...but, to different degrees we all have some influence upon others.  And especially if you have been entrusted with the title of friend, teacher, or parent. 

There seems to be a movement sweeping across our nation to discredit the validity and accuracy of the Bible.  If we can be made to doubt ...then we can be made to help discredit.  If part can be discredited, then how many parts??

Or if not discrediting, perhaps to add ...building on what is not known, so that we give equal acceptance to what we call new revelations.  New revelations always carry their own special intrigue ...like a pirate's new find, a treasure surpassing all others.

But, there are many maps out there which do not lead to treasure.  They lead us to caverns and to sunken vessels ...full of adventure.  But even if we see a chest full of valuables ...what value is there if our chest is void of our heart, or more accurately, the heart of God?

1 Samuel 13:14, states, "The LORD has sought out for Himself a man after His own heart."   

We may think this could never be us ...but, God wants it to be.  

Where do we find God's heart?

In His Word ... 

Some of you like to gamble ...and there are always ready establishments to serve you in that capacity.

They try to rewire your mind, so that you will begin to believe what you may not have believed yesterday, or even a minute ago ...and that desire to believe is based on a false hope driven by a desire for something you may have thought was unattainable. You may want something so badly, that on a short time you may be convinced that it is within reach ...and it is so strong of a feeling, it is often surprising how quickly it can become addicting.

It's like making you think it's a game of chance ...and making you think you are lucky, and if not, that your luck will change.

But, like any game of chance, it is not usually up to chance ...there are external controls that often make sure it's not up to chance. 

Yes, that is the life of a shark ...and though you may not run the establishment, you can become a promotional asset, leading others to the shark.

A shark may feel safe facing other sharks of its kind, but they also have to fear chance encounters with a porcupine fish, which can inflate itself inside the shark's jaws, preventing the flow of water through the shark's gills, this defense mechanism asphyxiating the seemingly fearless shark.

The great squid, salt-water crocodile, and killer whales are also something to contend with.  A killer whale has been observed to be able to swallow a shark whole.

While dolphins and sharks have been known to coexist peacefully, a dolphin can swim full-speed towards the abdomen of a shark, smacking into the tender area of its delicate intestines and causing the shark to hemorrhage.

Dolphins can also ram into the gills of the shark, destroying the shark's ability to breathe.  In one case, there was an aquarium where a shark and several dolphins had been living together without difficulty for some time ...when the dolphins, for unknown reasons, threw the shark 20 feet away onto the floor.

Though it may seem I really enjoy these deep sea struggles, I have since retired to the fresh water area of the Great Lakes surrounding Michigan.  And I also stay away from the fierce land creatures ...inclusive of the many casinos, which could rob you of any treasure you have attained.

If you think you're about to catch any pirate ...well, there's always something your ear may want to hear.

I had the grand privilege to share the company with a young lady, who was not that young ...and not that much a lady.  She wasn't much company either, but that was fine ...it would scare me much more if she was.

Anyways, she was busting at the seams, not of her dress, but of her feminine emotions ...trying to hide what she didn't have, while showing what she also didn't have, emotions-wise, that is.

She shamed this other bloke for his rightful suspicions ...that she directly tried to convince him were not right. She was tellin' him how it was the most terrible of things to think so low of her to think she could do such a thing ...and with accusin' her, an innocent lass, with not a shred of solid evidence was to be destroyin' her good character.  And right at the peak of her shamin' him ...her jaw dropped and her eyes lit up, like the light suddenly came on in that dull head of hers.  She couldn't help share her rapture of sudden revelation ...and she squarely placed the blame on a young lass, not established as she was.

Perhaps the most absurd of it all, is how anyone who strives daily to be as contrary as they can be, could even claim any discernment of goodness of company ...being it, or being in the company of it.  But, one must understand by what aspirations they be undertaking ...to be in common, or to be a bit different. 

With pirates it's often all about survival for one more day ...but, me not a real pirate at heart.  I look to the everlasting treasure, while seeking out the heart of God.  And I've set my anchor ...not allowing the current or drift to carry me where it may.