son of a son of a sailor…

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sailing a boat…

• I googled this and it was too long to put everything but these are the highlights… 

 

1. Do a visual check of all the standing rigging (stays and shrouds), Check the halyards and sheets . Make sure that they are not wrapped around each other or anything else. Pull ALL lines out of cleats & winches. There should be nothing binding any line; all should be free to move and be clear at this point. If you have a topping lift untie it & let it out until the boom sags downward quite a bit. Retie it. Watch out for the boom; it’s just swinging around at this point.
2. Point the boat into the wind. This isn’t always easy; the boat won’t turn readily because it’s not “under way” (moving). Do the best you can. The idea is to raise the sail while the slugs or rope that slide in the groove in the mast are at their least resistance, With the sail in this position, it also won’t be snagging on any shrouds or any other hardware.
3. Be sure to learn about the tides in your area, as in some places this can have almost as strong an effect on your movement as the wind. Try learning to determine the wind direction using your ears – let the wind blow onto your back, then slowly turn your head left to right and back until you feel it “equalize” over your ears. Once you find that point, you now know the wind direction, and using this method, you can understand the wind more without having to use your eyes.
4. If you have a yacht club near you, you might volunteer as a crew for racing. You will learn more in one race than in years of sailing by yourself

             OK… With all that said. What if the church were viewed using this analogy? What if we operated (so to speak) with the discipline and courage of sailing a boat. Not a boat with a motor mind you… a boat with a mast and a sail to get you where you are supposed to be without any back up plan. What if we did everything we were supposed too? Like getting to the meeting place every Sunday morning at 6am, plugging in wires, organizing volunteers, setting up the coffee, and so on… Everyone working together in perfect harmony to get the job done. But…What if we did all that without asking God to be in it?

           We can’t do this on our own… We can do everything in our power to get this ministry going, but without wind… the boat will never move! I have been privileged to be on a sail boat, but if you haven’t, I know that you have seen this scene somewhere in a movie or the Discovery Channel… the crew is preparing everything to get underway all the hustling around checking everything out to make sure it’s properly secured as in the halyards that are the lines to control the sails all the way to pointing the sail in the right direction… POINTING THE SAIL IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION… you can do all this but without wind, well you get the picture! There is always that one split second moment that you are waiting for that excitement when you hear the the “CA-POW” of the wind hitting the sail… When God kinda gives you that little push of confirmation that you are doing His will. When we do all this work and ask God to be in it. When He decides it’s the right time for the boat to commence the journey there is nothing like the “CA-POW” of hearing Him hit that Canvas. We haven’t launched this church in Savannah yet but the past couple of days have helped me realize that we are at least going in the right direction. We are starting to learn the tides of the community, we aren’t listening to the wind direction by using our ears but by using our hearts… We have a great Leader in Doug, He is the right man at the right time and in the right place, God is using him more than he knows. and I can’t not mention Shelly… she is right there beside him helping him stay pointing in the right direction as he prepares to get under way. I hope one day I have someone like her by my side. God is preparing the hearts of that city and He is waiting on the canvas to catch His wind… Get Ready Savannah because the canvas can do miracles… just you wait and see…

 

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