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Charting
Your Course
In 1760, a thirteen year
old boy left his home in Arbigland, Scotland to take a job aboard the two-masted
brig, Friendship, leaving the British port of Whitehaven.
Life on the Friendship was far from luxurious, as the vessel at eighty feet was
not particularly large for Atlantic crossing.
Quarters were cramped and air circulation below deck was poor.
The food was stale and water in tight supply.
Work was strenuous with masts, spars, canvas and rope.
It was a grueling means of livelihood.
However, the boy's
fortune would be aided by the master of the Friendship,
Captain Robert Benson, who took him to the rail of the quarterdeck one day
to show him the proper use of a navigating instrument called an octant.
It allowed a mariner to determine the angle of a heavenly body
above the horizon, even on a rolling ship.
By knowing the angle of the sun, moon or stars, a mariner could
determine his latitude at sea by calculation.
The boy diligently set out mastering celestial navigation, along
with the numerous intricate details of rigging and sailing a tall ship.
A few years later, in
1767, in Kingston, Jamaica, he had completed a trip and had been paid in
full. Desiring to return to
Scotland, he encountered the master of the brig John,
which would be sailing for Kirkcudbright, a port near home.
Captain Samuel McAdam offered him free passage.
But tragically, during the passage, both Captain McAdam and the
first mate died of fever. Unfortunately, none of the remaining crew knew how to
navigate.
Suddenly, the
John was a ship without direction as there was nothing reliable in
their surroundings to guide them, nothing with which to get their
bearings, nothing that offered the way home. . . .
But their passenger
knew.
He knew that in order to get home he needed to look heavenward!
Taking his octant, he fixed his sights on that above which is true
and reliable and unchanging. He charted a course for home through the confusing seas to
deliver the John safely to port
in Scotland. The owners of
the ship were so pleased that they immediately rewarded the twenty-one
year old sailor his first command as captain of a vessel.
He would not fail in his
opportunities. He would soon
take command of American vessels in the War of Independence as both
captain of a ship and commodore of a squadron.
He would never suffer a naval defeat even against better-armed
foes. Today, he is
buried in the United States Naval Academy Chapel in Annapolis, Maryland.
An inscription there reads that:
Admiral John Paul
Jones "gave our Navy its earliest tradition of heroism and
victory."
To reach that "HEAVENLY
HOME" WE too,
must look HEAVENWARD. For
God – who is TRUE, RELIABLE, and UNCHANGING (James 1:17) – so loved us
that He gave us His Son to pay the price for SIN - that which keeps us
from reaching our intended destination.
Jesus is our Captain who has chartered the course, and through His
blood, has made the way to heaven accessible (John 14:6).
To reach that "HEAVENLY
HOME" WE must also TRUST and OBEY the Captain: believing
in and trusting Him (Acts 16:30-31), turning from sin in repentance
(Acts 17:30-31), confessing
Him before men (Romans 10:9-10), and being baptized
(immersed) for the forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38; 22:16).
THEN, we must continue
to follow Him faithfully (1 John 1:7).
Will YOU
trust and obey the Captain of our salvation?
-- Terry
Livingston / David
A. Sargent, Minister
Church of Christ at Creekwood
1901 Schillinger Rd. S.
Mobile, Alabama 36695
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