“The instructions of the Lord are perfect, reviving the soul. The decrees of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple. The commandments of the Lord are right, bring joy to the heart. The commands of the Lord are clear, giving insight for the living. Reverence of the Lord is pure, lasting forever
The laws of the Lord are true; each one is fair. They are more desirable than even the finest gold. They are sweeter than honey, dripping from the comb. They are a warning to your servant, a great reward for those who obey them.” Psalm 19: 7-11 (NLT)
“The heavens proclaim the glory of God. The skies display His craftsmanship. Day after day they continue to speak; night after night, they make Him known. They speak without a sound or word; their voice is never heard. Yet their message has gone through the earth, and their words to all the world.
God has made a home in the heavens for the sun. It bursts forth like a radiant bridegroom after His wedding. It rejoices like a great athlete eager to run the race.
The sunrises at one end of the heavens and follows its course to the other end. Nothing can hide from its heat.” Psalm 19: 1-6 (NLT)
Currently, I have been reading from the Book of Psalms as part of my daily devotion. Psalm 18 caught my eye. It was written by King David. Here are some of the verses that stood out to me from the New Living Translation:
“I love You, Lord, You are my strength. (v.1)The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my savior; my God is my rock, in whom I find protection. He is my shield, the power that saves me, and my place of safety. (v.2) I called upon the Lord, who is worthy of praise, and He saved me from my enemies. (v.3)”
“He reached down from heaven and rescued me; He drew me out of deep waters. (v.16) He led me to a place of safety; He rescued me because He delights in me. (v. 19)”
“To the faithful, You show Yourself faithful; to those with integrity, You show integrity. (v. 25)To the pure, You show Yourself pure, but to the wicked, You show Yourself hostile. (v. 26)”
“You rescue the humble, but You humiliate the proud. (v. 27) You light a lamp for me. The Lord, my God, lights up my darkness. (v. 28)”
“God’s way is perfect. All he Lord’s promises prove true. He is a shield of all who look to Him for protection. (v.30) For who is God except the Lord” Who but God is a solid Rock! (v.31) God arms me with strength and He makes my way perfect. (v.32)”
“The Lord lives! Praise to my Rock! May the God of my salvation be exalted! (v.46) For this O Lord, I will praise you among the nations; I will sing praises to Your name. (v49).”
(The lyrics of the Praise and Worship song, “I Will Call Upon The Lord, by the Christian group, Petra, were derived from Psalm 18)
This passage was from one of my daily devotions that reminds us of this week between Jesus’s Triumphal Entry to Jerusalem, to His Crucifixion and Resurrection (in the last paragraph below, replace the Apostle, Paul’s name with your name)
Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation, for through Him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth.
He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see- such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through Him and for Him.He existed before anything else, and He holds all creation together.
Christ is also the head of the church, which is His body. He is the beginning, supreme over all who rise from the dead. So He is first in everything.
For God in His fullness was pleased to live in Christ, and through Him God reconciled everything to Himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ’s blood on the cross.
This includes you who were once far away from God. You were His enemies, separated from Him by your evil thoughts and actions. Yet now He has reconciled you to Himself through the death of Christ in His physical body. As a result, He has brought you into His own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before Him without a single fault.
But you must continue to believe this truth and sand firmly in it. Don’t drift away from the assurance you received the you heard the Good News. The Good News has been preached all over the world and I, Paul, have been appointed as God’s servant to proclaim it. Colossians 1:15-23 (NLT)
Psalm 5 is a psalm of David. These excerpts are his prayer for protection and are certainly applicable in these times.
Oh, Lord, hear me as I pray; pay attention to my groaning. Listen to my cry for help, my King and my God, for I pray to no one but You. Listen to my voice in the morning, Lord. Each morning I bring my requests to You and wait expectantly. Psalm 5:1-3 (NLT)
But let all who take refuge in You rejoice; let them sing joyful praises forever. Spread your protection one them, that all who love Your name may be filled with joy. For you bless the godly, O Lord; you surround them with your shield of love. Psalm 5:11-12 (NLT)
Christian bothers and sisters, need to come together in unity, in the body of Christ. We are all in this together Christians and non-Christians. We need to be a positive witness to others. Currently in the state of the world, our words are speaking louder than our actions (rather than our actions speak louder than our words). James 1:22 – “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.” NJKV. James 1:26 “If you claim to be religious but don’t control your tongue, you are fooling yourself, and your religion is worthless.” (NLT)
If you are a Christian and are bashing others and instead of lifting them up, shame on you! We need to uplift others, not tear the down. We need to pray, pray hard for those who have lost love ones, those who are fighting for their lives, those who have lost their jobs, the medical personnel, our President and his staff, the list goes on an on.
Remember Galatians 5:22-23 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. (ESV)
“A final word: Be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. Put on all God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm agains all the strategies of the devil. For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but agains even rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against the mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places……Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be present in your prayers for all believers everywhere.” Ephesians 6:10-12, 18 (NLT)
In world’s current situation, could this be the beginning of end times? We, as Christians, are called to share the Gospel of Salvation. Simply put, “….Believe in the Lord, Jesus, and you will be saved…” Acts 16:31 (ESV)
Paul says in his second letter to Timothy “I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and his kingdom; preach the Word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke and exhort; with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away fro listening to the Truth and wander off into myths. As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.” 2 Timothy 4:1-5 (ESV)
If you have to go somewhere for any reason, remember the coronavirus can live on hard surfaces for a week according to infectious disease physicians.
Should you need to go to a restroom, use a tissue to turn the door knob. Use an elbow to cut on and off the light switch. Wash your hands at least 20 seconds. Use a tissue or paper towel to open the door to leave the restroom. For an extra measure after leaving the restroom, use hand sanitizer.
If you are at a doctor’s office, bring your own pen to sign in (who knows how many people have touched that pen at the office!). Avoid touching the counters. at the appointment desk. In the waiting room, if possible sit away from other people.
If you are in a restaurant, sanitize your hands after reading the menu (again, who knows how many people have held that menu).
At the grocery store, use the wipes provide at many places to sanitize the buggy handle. I have started wearing gloves at the store, especially when selecting items and checking out.
Think about your mail and packages. Who knows how many people handle these items. Wash your hands/sanitize after opening your mail, bringing in your groceries.
When at the gas station, use a glove to handle the gas pumps and touch screens, and always sanitize after taking off your gloves.
This may sound a little paranoid, but I think these tips are small things we can to to be safer.
Psalms 56:3 “But when I am afraid, I will put my trust in You.” NLT
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)
The $800.00 botched job. The fiberglass and other supplies, the marina brought us to help out, since they botched the job.This is where we beached the boat at low tide. Herb and my husband repairing the damage with fiberglass and waterproof putty.The second repair, this one was a professional temporary repair by our friend, Herb.
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…….
My husband was checking something on the mast (76 feet in the air) and took a picture . Here you see mooring and mooring line in the front of the boatOur friend’s trawler, moored near usThe Radio Tower Little Farmer Cay Marina, where we docked that fateful night.
