Tag Archives: sailing

Glorious Day!

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Sailing, I found, was peaceful. It was a perfect little escape. The weather was terrific and even better, were our host friends, Mike and Michelle.

Glorious Day is the name of their boat.

I also found out that I do not know very much about sailing.

Here are some terms that the average person most likely would not know:

  • Luff: The luff is the front edge of the sail between the tack and head.
  • Leech: The leech is the aft part of the sail between the clew and head.
  • Gybing- When you steer the vessel from a starboard tack to a port tack and vice versa downwind.
  • Mizzen sail: A mizzen sail is typically a small triangular sail set on the aft mast of a boat with several masts, like the ketch rig.
  • Boom Vang/Rod Kicker: A compression pole is used to tension the boom downwards. 

There are many more but those are some of the more peculiar terms.

Mike and Michelle are awesome! They were gracious hosts to my wife and me.

As we made out from the port, Mike would explain these various terms to me. He would also instruct me to “hold this rope tight”, “crank this lever” or “just sit tight for a minute”.

At one point, I even got to steer the boat! But make no mistake, Mike was and always will be, from the beginning, the captain of the Glorious Day.

After an hour or so, Michelle prepared lunch. So here we are sailing, eating, and talking with friends. As I said, it was a fantastic day!

On this map, the red star is the city of Green Bay. The water that goes up and to the right of the red star is the bay of Green Bay. If you find the town of Little Suamico (just north of Green Bay), that is where we entered the water.

As I recall this little excursion, this thought dominated my mind: Life can be like sailing and God is my captain.

There are times when my Captain tells me to “hold this rope” or “sit down”. He is telling me how to live and how to live right.

The storms of life provide an ample amount of wind for the sails. Is this a good thing or bad? More on this in my next post.

It even feels like I get to pilot the boat on occasion.

Sure, there are terms that I don’t know. Maybe I am not sure of the timing on when (or which) sail to unfurl. So many things are taking place at once.

And the Captain is 100% aware of all of them at any given second in time.

And He will even have a nice meal waiting for you and me!

So grab your life vest and come aboard!

Yes, that is me. I just wanted to be like Bill Murray in What About Bob?

P.S. If you are reading this for the first time, I would recommend going back to the post of July first. It will give some context for the content of this post and also the next couple of months. Click here.

Rails and Sails

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Happy 4th of July weekend! You might be purchasing fireworks for the 4th or grilling out today. Eating watermelon and drinking lemonade also go well with many activities. Have a bonfire!

Let this celebration of independence be a safe, relaxing, and fun time for you and yours.

As you could probably tell by the title, this post is not about July 4th, freedom, or even the sweet corn that should be “knee high by 4th of July”.

In May and June of this year, I had the privilege of experiencing Rails and Sails.

The train trip was on Amtrak.

The sailboat voyage was with friends from our church who owned a sailboat. This picture is not their boat but it is similar.

Both of these modes of transportation are very uncommon for me. My wife and I took an Amtrak trip 18 years ago. I don’t even remember if I had been on a sailboat before.

I like doing new and different things. These two trips were both well worth the time and cost associated with each.

Over the rest of the summer, I want to share my experiences with you through this blog.

Perhaps a preview…

Touring Alcatraz Prison

Eating seafood on Fisherman’s Wharf

Looking up at the Space Needle

Seeing the Rocky Mountains

Being lashed to the mast of a sailboat

Being at the geographical center of North America

Playing Cribbage with my mother-in-law

Putting a puzzle together with my kids

Taking another selfie with my wife with the Golden Gate Bridge in the background

These, and many more, are the substance of my combined experiences with Rails and Sails.

I look forward to taking you along these journeys with me. It will be fun to revisit these memories.

So, as you wait in eager anticipation, recall your own journeys.

I hope they have also been filled with many great people and places.

Thanks for reading!

Wind in your face?

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In the movie, What About Bob?, Bill Murray is hilarious! At one point, he is strapped to the mast of a sail boat.

what about bob

And here is what he is saying…

what about bob 2

Very funny!

Sailing. It is something that I have never tried. Someday perhaps.

But I do know something about sailing. Going from point A to point B is rarely, if ever, a straight line.

Even as I type these words, I recall all the twists and turns I have experienced. In the language of sailing, it is called tacking. Another picture to help with the idea.

tacking

There were many more photos from which you could choose to better understand tacking but this one worked for me.

Sailing a boat: There is a goal. There is a course that is plotted to get to the goal. But then the wind blows. Start tacking. Progress can be slowed but it is still progress.

Following Jesus: God plants goals, visions, passions, and dreams into our hearts. We set out to achieve all of these things for God. But then the wind blows. Start tacking. Our forward progress is slowed but we still move forward.

I am reminded of the words in James 4, “But he gives us more grace.”

Sure, I make mistakes. Life happens and I get wronged. Whether I did something or something was done to me, there is some readjusting to be done. Tacking.

So when rejection (this could mean your sin or someone else’s sin) occurs, will I regret or redirect?

We are all sailing through this life. And the wind is usually blowing.

Regret means to stop forward progress by not changing according to God’s standards.

Redirect means to move forward by adjusting to God’s will and changing directions.

One of my favorite bands is the Imperials. Here are some of the lyrics to one of their songs, “Sail On”:

“Cast up your sails
And let the wind blow
Jesus will never
Let your ship lose control
Just keep your compass set on the Son
And He’ll guide you safely
To His beautiful Home”

My Haiti Experience; Chosen…part 1

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I think that one of the greatest privileges we have as humans is the free will to choose. Choose what? Anything and everything. My clothes for the day or where I will eat dinner tonight are choices that are common. Sometimes I need to choose things that are more important, like summer activities for my kids or where to spend a tax refund. Every day is filled with all types of choices! And I get to make whatever choice I feel like making! When I choose something, or when the final decision is set, it means that I have already gone through a mental course of filters and biases. Example: we had macaroni and cheese for dinner. Here are some of the filters and biases that I would have had to process through to make that decision.

  1. What food is available to me right now?
  2. Am I feeding myself or my family as well?
  3. How much time do I have?
  4. Do I feel like taking the time to make something?
  5. Is this food healthy?
  6. Do I have vegetables to go with the main dish?
  7. What will my family think about this food?
  8. Did we have this food in the last week?
  9. What did I have for lunch?

Do you see what happens here? Every decision is the result of going through this process. I would guess that most often, this process is very fast or even unconscious. The more difficult the decision, the more time is spent in the decision-making process.

 

So what does this have to do with Haiti? In my first two articles, I explained the ideas of God creating me and then calling me. In this post, I will lay out the thought of God choosing me. And with help from one of scripture’s most well-known characters, I think that I will be able to make the case that God specifically chooses people for carrying out His will.

 

If you recall, I explained how God called me into the ministry. At that time, I did not know specifically what He meant. The calling was a beginning. I was now on a certain path heading in a certain direction. Today, twenty some years later, I know much more about what it is that God has called me to do. In fact, one of the things that He has chosen me to do is to start writing. God’s choosing me to write is part of my calling. See the distinction? I can be chosen many times while living out my calling. So let’s get to the Bible character I was referring to earlier and analyze this story.

 

Perhaps the most famous story that comes from the Bible is Jonah and the Whale. David and Goliath, Daniel and the Lion’s Den, and Noah and the Ark are also quite popular, but I think it is safe to say that Jonah is in the top three stories for sure. If you would like to read it for yourself, click here. I think you will find it beneficial to follow along.

 

God had called Jonah to be a prophet. Simply put, God would direct a prophet, like Jonah, to a certain location and instruct him or her to give a certain word, “Go here and preach this message.” Sounds pretty simple. I like Jonah because he shows us what happens when we exercise our free will and make a choice that does not line up with what God asks.

 

God instructed Jonah to go to the city of Nineveh. (1:1-2) This city is located on the banks of the Tigris River. It is literally hundreds of miles from the Mediterranean Sea. There was great sin and wickedness in Nineveh and God wanted to see these people turn their hearts to Him.

Jonah

Side note: God is ALWAYS on the lookout for people to turn their hearts to him. Back to Jonah… But Jonah did not think this plan was very good. So he got into a boat and headed west. (1:3) It was not enough to just not go to Nineveh. It was not enough to stay where he was staying. It was not enough to rent a boat. Jonah wanted to go to the other side of the known world! Tarshish was a port city in Spain that was on the Atlantic Ocean! This was about as far as you could get from Nineveh. Wow! It would be like God calling me to New York so I buy a plane ticket and fly to Los Angeles. Jonah went west instead of east when God spoke to him.

 

Have you or I ever done that? God asks us to do something but we refuse or try to ignore it. Does that work? Do we really get away with it? We might think we do, but as we will see, God sees all, and a storm is brewing on the horizon.

storm 2

And for more on that storm…check back within a week or so. But for right now, enjoy the smooth sailing.