A Thought for the Day – 051 – The ship's wheel
The governors of the land are many; therefore there is much transgression
in the courtyard. Understanding and knowledge of this can prolong the Right.
What does this mean? Proverbs 28:1-2 to prolong righteousness in the land we
must be willing to pray, then to follow the orders of our Originator and
Finisher of Faith; Hebrews 12:1-2.
Comments and challenges
It was
a warm day in July 1968 when we moored in Naples, Italy; there was little
movement of the wind but when it did move the smell of the harbor and shore
line was like that of dead fish and stale perfume. We had been warned by the
ship’s corpsman to avoid falling into the waters of the harbor and if someone
did they would be sent to the sickbay on the destroyer tender stationed there for
observation for four days. The water of the harbor was filthy. Clearly the slim
was thick enough to see.
We were
moored to the destroyer tender in what the Navy calls “Med-moor” meaning that
we were moored to the starboard side of the tender by our fantail; the fantail
is the back end of the ship which means that the piers in the Mediterranean
ports were seldom used for military vessels. The tender was anchored in a
protected harbor and we would be taking a small water taxi to and from the
tender when going ashore. We were moored to the tender’s side along with two
other destroyers.
This
turned out to be one of the Navy’s nightmares since men would realize the ease
of slipping over to the other ship and stealing articles from the other crew.
One night, our shipmates decided that the wheel (the helm) or steering wheel
for you landlubbers should be swapped from the other ship next to us. So about
five guys climbed over to the other ship and removed the wheel from that ship,
and they attached our older wheel in its place.
All was
going well and they crossed back over to our ship only to lose the swapped
wheel in the drink as they passed from ship to ship. Knowing the condition of
the water… NO ONE WAS willing to go after it. Now the other ship had our wheel
and since it was getting to be daybreak by the time someone said, let’s go back
and get our wheel, they got caught. As one of the Master-at-Arms aboard the ship
I was involved in the investigation of this crime, we sent divers down and
retrieved the wheel. Also we restored some trust with our fellow sailors on the
other ship.
I am
reminded of Psalm 1:7-19 the fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge,
but fools despise wisdom and instruction. Those five men were foolish, they had
no fear of God, they only had the fear of getting caught and they did. They did
not get caught because they were dumb or that their plan was faulty. They got
caught because early in life they did not listen to the instruction of their
father or mother and the law of “thy shall not steal” was ignored and they were
enticed by each other to commit sin.
The precious
possessions of others became a snare and a trap and the prize (the purse) fell
in the putrid waters of evil, in their haste they lost their gain and little
did they realize that their secret journey was in pursuit of their own
captivity as they fell into the hands of the Living God who tossed their prize
into the putrid Naples harbor. So it is with everyone who is greedy for gain,
in the end it takes away the life of party and exposes those who seek an unrighteous
reward.
This
reminds me of our nation where a few men and women are trying to steal the helm
and direction of this nation, these did not listen to their parents either, nor
did they listen to the instructors of wisdom as they grew to adulthood. There are
major differences in this personal story than that of our national one in that
“WE THE PEOPLE” are not asleep we are watching the pilfering of our freedoms
being stolen.
These
national thieves do not wait for the night to come, but in the daytime when the
courtyard is in session they change out the Constitution of our nation and
replace it with something that has been dipped in sewage. We do not need the
Master – at – Arms. We need Masters of Prayer, those men and women who will Rise
up and pray; those who are patriots of this country, if we fail to do this,
then we have failed the test of freedom and we will be a third world power
within the lifetime of the next generation.
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