Tag Archives: water

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.

Components of a Miracle

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Ever experienced a miracle?

Before we talk about miracles, let’s review:

  • John 2 starts with a wedding.
  • It was in a small town not far from Nazereth.
  • Jesus was there.
  • His mother and disciples were also present
  • They had all been invited

For a more detailed review, here are links to the first three posts:

Better than a Golden Ticket

Golden Ticket = Invitation

The “Gold” in Golden Ticket

Now on to the miracle!

I wrote this line as a teaser in the last post:

The Messiah can bring meaning through miracles.

My thoughts on miracles are this:

All miracles require Opportunity and Ability

Initially, there must be a need for a miracle; opportunity.

In this story, the wine has run out. Not a good thing.

The host would have been disgraced. Many people would be disappointed or even upset. The festivities would have to be cut short. The reputation of the couple would be tarnished from this disaster.

In short, they needed more wine. The opportunity has presented itself.

Flip the coin, we need to identify the ability half of this miracle.

Up to this point, Jesus has not performed any miracles of which we are aware. He is relativity unknown. But his mother is there.

Luke 2:19 tells is that Mary “pondered these things in her heart…”

I think that Mary knew who her son was when he was born. Having children of my own, I know things about them that no one else does. My wife, their mother, just knows our kids.

Moms just know.

So she tells Jesus (Ability) to do something about the problem.

And Jesus obeys his mother.

And performs his first miracle. Water into wine!

Now, this wedding, that was surely to be written off as a superb mistake, can be remembered as an event with special meaning!

The Messiah gave meaning because of the miracle!

Do ever feel like your life is like this wedding?

You are embarrassed because you failed.

Your reputation is tainted.

People are gossiping about you.

Your friends and perhaps even your family are disgraced.

Sounds you have plenty of Opportunity in your life.

If you invite Jesus, you now have Ability present in your life.

And, as far as this author is concerned, you have all you need for a miracle.

May the Messiah bring meaning into your mess through a miracle.

God bless you.