Jimmy Buffett Wisdom

Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, "Lord, save me!" (Matthew 14:30)

That's where the young woman stopped the devotional she was giving to our Young Life camp team meeting. She closed her Bible and stopped reading, leaving Peter drowning and crying out for help.

"I'm not going any further," she said. "I feel like I'm drowning, and I need to know I'm not the only one. The rest of you seem like you have it all together, and I feel alone."

It's funny how we sometimes buy the "Facebook image" other people project. We believe the lie that everyone else's life is a luxurious all-you-can-eat cruise passing us by while we are sinking beneath the waves.

Do you ever feel that way? I know I do. And the holidays can have a tendency to make the waves seem higher and the water much deeper. Due to different circumstances these past few years, the holidays seem to bring that sinking feeling for me. Everyone else is cruising by, and I feel like I'm drowning.

Oh, I try my best to look like I have it together, but that does not change the sinking truth. The fact is that experts will tell you that actual drowning doesn't really look like drowning. In 10 percent of real drownings, adults are nearby but have no idea the victim needs help.

I feel like my life often portrays that same idea. How many people around me, looking at it from the outside, would have any idea I feel like i'm drowning? Probably very few. I attend the parties, lead the workshops, and continue through life, often with a sinking feeling on the inside.

The outward appearance betrays the truth beneath the surface.

If you are feeling that way during the upcoming holiday season, I found some wisdom that was encouraging to me in what might be considered the unlikely source of Jimmy Buffet. (And no, the solution is not a beach and a margarita… though I bet that couldn't hurt.)

Like so many, I was saddened by Jimmy Buffett's recent passing. It didn't come as a surprise, though. Strangely enough, we have a mutual friend who had informed me before his death that he only had months to live. A rare form of skin cancer had taken its toll.

Knowing this, I had listened to much of his older music again over the past many months. But recently, a new song released after his death took me by surprise.

The song is called "Bubbles Up." While it sounds like a new soft drink or a song about a champagne toast, it proves to be much deeper than that.

It turns out that "Bubbles up" was a term Buffet learned in a survival training course he took. In a boat that's capsized or a plane that's crashed into the water, following the bubbles as they always rise to the surface will lead you to safety. The same goes for disoriented scuba divers who are not sure which way is up.

So, for those of us who might feel like we are drowning this holiday season and are not sure which way is up, let me share this Buffett wisdom.

When this world starts a-reelin'

From that pressure drop feelin'

We're just treading water each day

There's a way to feel better

Be well set to weather

The storms 'til the sun shines again

When your compass is spinnin'

And you're lost on the way

Like a leaf in the wind, friend Hear me when I say

Bubbles up

They will point you towards home

No matter how deep or how far you roam

They will show you the surface, the plot and the purpose

So, when the journеy gets long

Just know that you are loved

Thеre is light up above

And the joy is always enough

Bubbles up

Strangely it seems that this was Jimmy's final message to us all, these wise words from the "Son of a Son of a Sailor."

Feeling like you are just treading water this time of year? Or even worse, drowning? Maybe it's time we took Jimmy's advice and simply looked up.

I lift up my eyes to the hills.

From where does my help come?

My help comes from the Lord,

who made heaven and earth.

He will not let your foot be moved;

he who keeps you will not slumber.

Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.

The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life.

The Lord will keep your going out

and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore.

Psalm 121 (1-4, 7-8)

God's survival training calls us to look to Him. Cry out to the Lord just like Peter, and say, "Lord, save me!" No matter how deep or dark your waters are, you're not out of reach.

"Surely the arm of the LORD is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear." (Isaiah 59:1)

When you cry out to him, I guarantee you will find out you are loved.

"...neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:39)

That the surface is not so far away, and light awaits.

"The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it." (John 1:5)

And the joy of the Lord is always enough.

"The joy of the Lord is your strength" (Nehemiah 8:10)

Usually, I would feel inclined to say "Happy Thanksgiving" this time of year. But this year is different. I will simply leave you with…

Bubbles Up.