Crossing Oceans

“Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going.” [Ecclesiastes 9:10]

Roz Savage is an intrepid ocean rower and environmental advocate, but the first half of Roz’s life was anything but adventurous. In 2001, the 34-year-old Brit was a management consultant and investment banker working every day in an office cubical. That year, while on a train trip, she thoughtfully wrote out two possible obituaries for her life – the one she was currently living and the one she really wanted to live. So Roz made a gutsy decision to give up her steady income and big house in the suburbs.

In 2003, she took part in an expedition that discovered Inca ruins in the Andean cloud forests near Machu Picchu. Next she ran in the London and New York marathons, finishing in the top two percent. Roz had done some rowing while attending Oxford, so one day she decided to row across the Atlantic Ocean… solo in a 23-foot rowboat, without a support vessel. Along the way all four oars broke, forcing her to row more than half the trip with patched-up oars. Her cooking stove failed after only 20 days, then her navigation equipment and music player went bad. She managed to maintain her daily weblog right up until day 80, when her satellite phone failed, leaving only her position transponder to indicate by her movement that she was still alive. On March 14, 2006, after 103 days of rowing, she completed the Atlantic crossing.

In 2008, she became the first woman to row solo from California to Hawaii. In 2009, she rowed from Hawaii to Tarawa in the Kiribati Islands. Then in June 2010, Roz Savage, 42, rowed her boat from Kiribati to Madang in Papua, New Guinea, becoming the first woman to row solo across the Pacific. So far she has rowed over 11,000 miles, taken 3.5 million oar strokes, and spent over a year of her life at sea.

The Bible says, “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might” (Ecclesiastes 9:10). Since our time on Earth is limited, we should strive to accomplish all we can, especially in spiritual matters. Jesus said, “I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work” (John 9:4). How important it is to make God and His work the first priority of our lives!