The Devotional - A Look at the Book #875

by Jesse Abel

Thoughts from Papa “J”

 

Is your automobile thirsty this morning? Does the cost of fuel stagger those futile attempts of your mind to understand? Return to the LORD! Isaiah 55:1-13 and John 10:7-18 (Abundant Life, Is available!)

 

Good Morning, a side thought!

 

It was nearing 2 A.M. our depth was four hundred feet and our speed was 15 knots. It was time pump the sanitary tanks. The Officer of the Deck ordered the Diving Officer to reduce the ships speed to six knots and proceed to 125 feet. As the ship slowed to 6 knots and leveled off at 125 feet I noticed that the ship was very sluggish and kept sinking. I found it impossible to maintain the depth.

 

At least two human errors were reported that morning as minor adjustments to buoyancy must be made while at any depth. Water temperature and other factors like flushing water to the sanitary tanks cause weight changes. Anytime there is a depth change the buoyancy weight of a submarine will change and require an order from the Diving Officer to pump the variable ballast tanks to sea or to flood the tanks with more sea water to maintain neutral buoyancy.

 

The order to move water on the ship is given to the Chief of the Watch by the Diving Officer; on this morning the Chief of the Watch was busy teaching one of the unqualified crew members on some qualification point and was paying no attention to the orders of the Diving Officer or his duty station. Also, his elbow was leaning against the flood valve and he totally filled the forward ballast tank. While we might find fault with the Chief of the Watch, I too was at fault since I made no attempt to gain a response from the Chief of the Watch acknowledging my orders.

At fifteen knots (twenty four miles per hour) the extra weight was masked by the speed and as soon as the submarine slowed to six knots (less than 10 miles per hour) the ability to control the depth of the ship was nearly impossible. We may want to reprimand the Chief of the Watch, but there are at least two others in authority in the control room. The Diving Officer and the officer who has the Deck and the Con (overall command) also there are at least three others in the control room who need to aware or vigilant. It is required by all on station.

 

Here is the Rub! As responsible humans we are nationally weighted down with sin and not paying attention to our duty stations of life! God consciousness is given over to self-consciousness.

Husbands and wives have lost their united way as ONE for the selfishness of TWO. Children have no parental authority and at a very young age develop emotional revolts in their heart towards authority that drain our national resources through government programs.

 

These revolts become a variable weight that increases in their soul because their father (the chief of the watch) is not paying attention. The mother who normally seeks to balance the family is too busy with other areas of interest to notice. Our leadership no longer sees the basics of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness as a meaningful goal and our national heritage of a strong Constitution begins to crumble. Shall I go on? I am beginning to run out of writing room.

 

There is little blessing while God is cursing! Leviticus 26:1-46, but there is a promise that as a nation we should seek to claim TODAY. It is a promise to Israel, found in 2 Chronicles 7:14 and there is nothing in the context of this verse for another nation to claim. However; God is still teaching national humility in the Church. Notice James 4:1-10, these words proclaim that God promises are the only cure for national worldliness through national humbleness and a return to God.