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The next morning, we saw the damages done to our pontoons. There was a hole in the left front pontoon with a rock stuck in it bout the size of a small watermelon. The son the owner of the marina said that he could fix our hole and gave us an estimate of $800 cash. Our friend, Herb, also said he could repair the damage, but we would have to beach the boat. The other man said that he could get in the water and plug the hole well enough for us to make it to a boat repair shop. We were in a dilemma. Since the man from the island said that he could plug the hole while the boat as docked, and we didn’t want to take advantage of our friend’s offer, we chose to pay the man for the temporary repair. Long story short, the man put some kind of putty in the hole. We anchored for the night (reinforcing our lines mooring lines this time) and there were no signs of leakage. There were only about three places that could pull our wide boat out of the water, the closest being Spanish Wells in the Eleuthera’s. We had been there before and were familiar with the route. We set out and after we picked up some speed, our bilge pump sounded, the patch was not working and water was seeping into the pontoon. So we hailed our friend, Herb, who was still at Little Farmer’s Cay, turned around and returned to anchor there.

We knew that we had hurt Herb’s feelings by turning him down. My husband explained that he didn’t want to take advantage of him, by asking him to do this job. Unbeknownst to us, Herb told us that he had been a crew member when he was young on the actual ship, The Bounty. I assume it was the replica of the original ship, the Bounty built in 1979; either that or since he is Austrian, maybe there was another ship of the same name when he was younger. Anyway, he said he learned how to work with fiberglass and and make repairs. My husband carried some waterproof putty and a little bit of fiberglass. The son, who did the original faulty repair for $800, either felt sorry or guilty and brought us his supply of fiberglass to help with the repairs. (Herb refused to accept money for his work, as he was a friend, and as I said before, a Christian).

The next morning, when the tide was low, we beached the boat. Herb and my husband began the repairs. When he was ready to apply the resin to the fiberglass, he asked if anyone had a brush. No one had a brush. My husband asked me if I there was any kind of brush on the boat. The Lord provides – my hair dresser had given me some hair dye and a brush to apply it in case I needed a touch up before I returned home. I brought the small brush to Herb, and it was exactly what he needed! After the repairs we were done, reflected the boat and the next morning set out for Spanish Wells, again. This time, there was no leak and no no bilge pump alarm. We were thankful for God’s grace, again.

1 Peter 4:10 “God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another.” (NLT)

1 Peter 4:11″……..Do you have the gift of helping others? Did with all the strength and energy that God supplies. Then everything you do will bring glory to God through Jesus Christ. All glory and power to Him forever and ever!. Amen. (NLT)

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After we left Fort Pierce, Florida, we sailed to West Palm Beach and waited there until we had a “window” of good weather in order to cross over 66 miles of the Atlantic Ocean. Approximately ten days from our initial departure from St. Mary’s Georgia, we arrived at West End, Northern Bahamas.

Fast forwarding to the later part of December (I fill in the gaps of our journey later), we had traveled down to the Exumas . We had met some fellow boaters who had the same itinerary. One couple had a trawler and actually had lived a county next door to us several years ago. Herb was from Austria, but had live in the the states for years. He was a seasoned boater, a Christian, and now resided on his boat.

We had just left Big Major’s Spot where the pigs actually swam to meet us as we brought our dinghy ashore. Nearby was Thunderball Island, where one of the of the underwater scenes from the James Bond Movie was filmed. Our next stop was Little Farmer’s Cay, before moving on to Georgetown which was about 47 miles away.

Little Farmer’s Cay was pretty much populated with one family. Everybody seems to be related. Their marina left a lot to be desired, so we decided to moor in the bay. Our friends anchored near us. Herb always dove down to check his mooring. He made sure there as no problem with the mooring. We were newbies and moored in the usual fashion. Our boat was equipped with a system that would alarm if our position when we were anchor, if the boat shifted but never used it. , indicating a dragging anchor, but we were moored and did not use it.

Even though Herb had a trawler, he had an aft mast, and usual had a blue neon light which was visible at night. The first night went fine. We had a day of exploring the next morning . The second night was another story. We went to bed and about 1:30 AM, we were awoken by our boat rocking back and forth, like it was banging on something. The drawer had opened in the galley and there were utensils all over the floor, as well as anything that had not been stowed properly. We got up, ran to the flybridge, and it was pitch black and the wind was blowing. We could see not anything. We could not get our bearings. We did not now where we were, or how we got there. Somehow we had gone aground!. I tried to find a landmark. For some reason, Herb’s blue neon light was not on that night. My only bearing was a radio tower, and its lights were visible in the darkness. Apparently when the wind picked up that night, our boat came lose form the mooring. My husband assessed the situation. The bilge pump was alarming indicating that we were taking on water. Fortunately the pontoons separate compartments so the leak was contained in the tip of the pontoon. The next step was power up the boat and reverse back into the water, the Lord told me to use the marine radio and call May Day. I repeated my plea every minute or so.

I don’t remember how long it took, but miraculously someone answered my MayDay! Turns out the owner of the title marina, kept his marine radio on and gotten out of bed to get a snack, and heard my call. He asked us if we could make it to the marina which was across the bay, and he would meet us there with help. By this time, my husband was able to get the boat afloat. We had a powerful spotlight and we were able to navigate across the bay, dodging other moored sailboats. By God’s grace, we made it to the marina. The wind was blowing away from the dock, disabling us from docking. It took four or five men heaving lines to us and pulling the boat to the dock. The marina owner’s wife was a nurse and she had come along as to see if we were physically okay. We finally got the boat properly tied off. My husband jumped onto the dock as the men commented that they saw the hole in the pontoon. We were not taking on any more water so we tried to get some sleep for the rest of what was left of the night. The next morning we surveyed the damage. Thank God, He protected us from a major catastrophe.

“This is my command – be strong and courageous! Don’t be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9 (NLT)

TO BE CONTINUED…….

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About ten years ago, we bought a 44 ft. catamaran. My husband and I had decided to retire (the first time) and live on this beautiful, ocean-going sailboat. Purchased in St. Maartin from a French couple, my husband flew down there and with the help of another person, sailed her back to St. Marys Georgia. While my husband was preparing her for our adventure, I waited back home until our first grandson was born. After his birth, I joined my husband in St. Marys and eagerly waited for November 1st, the official end of hurricane season. After much consideration, we named her “Hodos”, which is Greek for, “The Way”. On October 31t, we had a boat christening with some friends, and set sail on November 1st down the Florida coast.

We were seasoned power boaters, having been active in the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary for 15 years on inland lakes. We had never spent anytime on this large of a sailboat, let along navigating the open ocean. We had all the fancy gadgets, GPS, radar, depth finder, weather, and autopilot. One disadvantage was that the mast was taller than most catamarans. This meant that we were unable to sail under many bridges along the Intracoastal Waterway, unless it was a drawbridge.

Our choice was to find anchorage each night to avoid sailing through the night. Our first overnighter was St. Augustine. The Hodos was hard to maneuver through small channels beause of 26 ft width, but with God’s grace, we made it.

The next day, we continued down the east coast of Florida. We would sail for the greater part of the day, and make sure we were at an anchorage or dock before dark. Being in November, the days were getting shorter. As we got closer to Port Canaveral I called several marinas. None of them are outside the bridge, which was fixed and we could not pass under it. We were off shore and there was no place to anchor for the night. So we had no choice but to sail through the night.

It started out pleasant enough. There was a shuttle launch scheduled the next day at Cape Canaveral and the whole area was lit up. It served as a beacon for us. Unfortunately , the winds picked up and it started raining, a lot of wind and a lot of rain. We had to lower our sail and continue under power. There was not a lot of boat traffic that night, but it was pitch dark after we rounded Cape Canaveral. There was a lone light in the distance, we thought from another boat, and it seemed that we were traveling the same direction. My husband was steering on the flybridge and asked me to go to the lower outside deck for safety. He would call me it he need me.

The boat was tossing up and down and I prayed that we would have a save journey. Sometime in the night a white bird, starting flying with us from the back of the boat. Strange as it was for a lone bird to be flying in the dark and in the storm, I felt peace. I felt like the bird was from God. We neared the shipping lanes for the big freighters at dawn. The rain has stopped and the winds had died down. I went topside an asked my husband where was the boat that we had followed. He said that when dawn arrived, the light had disappeared. I told him about the bird that followed us. We believed that the Lord had provided a guiding light (and the bird) to navigate us through the storm.

That day, we sailed to Ft. Pierce and the city marina, thankfully was before their bridge, an we docked there for the night and had a time to rest and be thankful to the Lord for seeing us through the storm.

Psalm 107:23:32 Some went off to sea in ships, plying the trade routes of the world. They, too, observed the Lord’s power in action, His impressive works on the deepest seas. He spoke, and the winds rose, stirring up the waves. Their ships were tossed to the heavens and plunged again to the depths; the sailors cringed in terror. They reeled and staggered lis drunkards and are at their wit’s end. Lord, help” they cried in their trouble and He saved them from their distress. He calmed the storm to a whisper and stilled the waves. What a blessing was that stillness as He brought them safely in to harbor! Let them praise the Lord for His great love and for the wonder things He has done for them. Let them exhalt Him publicly before the congregation and before the leaders of the nation. (NLT)

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I have been watching a show on Netflix, the 4400. In a nutshell, 4400 people disappeared from different years and reappeared in present day without aging. The story is that they were abducted by people from the future and let them return to Earth with special abilities both good and bad. It was discovered that these people had a unique component to their blood. Then it was found that this component could be harvested and the general public could choose to be injected with this component . The drawback was that 50% of those who chose to be inject would die. Those 50% who lived developed abilities, again, both good and bad.

I got to thinking that, when we become Christians, through salvation, we all are given special abilities, as well, called spiritual gifts. In Ephesians 4:7, Paul states, ” However, He has given each one of us a special gift through the generosity of Christ.” (NLT)

Paul also writes in 1 Corinthians 12;4-11)”There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit is the source of them all. There are different kinds of service, be we serve the same Lord. God works in different ways, but it is the same God who does the work in all of us.

A spiritual gift is given to each us some we can help each other. To one person the Spirit gives the ability to give “wise advice”; to another the same Spirit gives a message of special knowledge. The same Spirit gives great faith to another, and to someone else the one Spirit gives the gift of healing. He gives one person the power to perform miracles, and another the ability to prophesy. He gives someone else the ability to discern whether a message is from the Spirit of God or from another spirit. Still another person is given the ability to speak in unknown languages, while another is given the ability to interpret what is being said. It is the one and only Spirit who distributes all these gifts. He alone decides when gift each person should have. ” (NLT)

In Romans 12:6-8, Paul writes , “In His grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out with as much faith as God has given you. If your gift is serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher teach well. If your gift is to encouraging others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. If you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly.” (NLT)

Paul summarizes in 1 Corinthians 31. “So you should earnestly desire the most helpful gifts. (NLT)

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(This is the first installment from our guest storyteller)

Years ago when I was 12, we lived in a small town at house on the end of Main Street. My family went to church every Sunday.  I was saved when I was 11, but still was a very active boy, and was in trouble a lot. 

One day when I got out of school, I decided to go to the five and dime store down the road. As I walked by the Sheriff’s Office, Sheriff Ben was sitting in an old wicker rocking chair, just outside the building. He was sharpening what looked like an ‘ole widow Barnes’ carvin’ knife.  He said howdy, and asked if I had been keeping out of trouble. I responded, “Sheriff, you know I got saved last year, but it’s hard for me to be good.” 

Then Sheriff Ben looked me right in the eye and tenderly spoke, “You know, growing up in a life in Jesus is like sharpening an old, dull knife.” 

“How is that Sheriff Ben?”

Then he continued, “As a new Christian, you are dull to the word of God. Jesus takes you with a coarse stone like this here stone, and gets the rust off and starts to make a rough edge on you, like a knife.  He knows you are rough at first, but He loves you and wants to lead you down the right path.” 

“Were is this path?” I asked. 

“You can start by following the path to Sunday School, to learn how Jesus wants you to live.” 

“I have been goin’ to Sunday School.”

“But do you listen and take into your heart?”

“Well… not really.”

“Then start listening and learn.” 

“I will.”

“Very good,” replied Sheriff Ben, “because you will grow in Jesus and He will continue to hone you into the person that He wants you to be.” 

“Yes sir, I will do my best to be sharp.” 

Ben responded, “That’s the spirit! Let’s pray together. 

Oh, Lord, we praise and worship Your holy name. We thank You for all Your blessings. Please go with us and lead us down the path to grow closer to You.  We ask these things in Your name, Jesus. Amen.