Still Sailing

Sometimes I feel a lot like Gilligan.

It was suppose to be only a three hour tour. Instead it became a three year ordeal. Three years ago, my wife and our three girls, my wife’s parents, two of her sisters and their husbands, and some of my daughters cousins, all took a Baja cruise together. It was a wonderful yet fateful voyage. The cruise was a blast, but only a few days after the trip, my marriage ship hit an iceberg and never recovered.

It seems like yesterday, but the past three years have gone slowly and have been anything but a pleasure cruise.

Tomorrow my daughters and I are headed back to California for another cruise. We will all miss Nancie. She has been a good wife and mother, but her ship sailed three years ago and it has not ever come back.

So this trip, if only symbolically, will be the beginning of a new voyage and future for me. I have faith and trust that God will help me find ways to make this life time voyage a better experience for me and for the girls. Of course there will still be struggles and trials, they are a part of life, but as the old saying goes “smooth sailing never a strong sailor makes”.

Sometimes we just need to pull into a port and take time to think. Time in the center of the whale did Jonah some good. Time in the center of my situation also helped me get a better perspective.

The time in your whale may only be 3 days, or maybe even just three hours, but if, like me, the time period to contemplate where you were and where you are going takes longer, (for me, 3 years and counting), the Lord provides a great deal of help and insight into what you need to do to change. His perfect plan is full of ways to remodel your soul from the ground up.

So now begins the journey. Farewell past! Bon voyage to what was and what might have been. Let’s start sailing towards a better tomorrow, and that ship is leaving NOW!

(Speaking of oceans and boating, here are some reposts of several poems I wrote that make reference to boats, oceans etc.)

A Beacon from the Shore
by Kelly Silvester

When life gets oh so busy that you don't have time to think
And life's demands so hectic that you'll either swim or sink

Stop and take a moment and assess the course you're on
And maybe then you'll realize where others have gone wrong.

Life's full of sea fairing sailors who set sail without a map
And rush about the ocean seeking whatever they can catch.

Oh some return successful with their vessels filled with gold
But most get lost and shipwrecked from the storms and wind and cold.

But there are lights that can be seen even in the darkest night
That keep a sailor safe and sure and provide a guidling light.

A lighthouse sends a warning of the dangers found below
But also gives the sailor a hopeful way back home.

See although it isn't flashy there's another light inside
At the center of the beacon that really is the guide.

And if the weary sailor keeps his eye upon that light
The light will never fail him and he'll make it back alright.

It doesn't take a lighthouse to be a shinning light
I know of one wise sailor who has guided all his life.

My grandpa was always by my side through all the thick and thin
He was a light, an anchor even when I didn't win.

And although he wasn't flashy his light was sure and true
And he'll always go on guiding until we make it through.

So when life gets oh so busy that you don't have time to think
And life's demand so hectic, you'll either swim or sink.

Stop and take a moment and find that light once more
For you'll never ever perish with a beacon from the shore.

Priceless Gifts from the Sea
by Kelly Silvester

Some set sail on an ocean of words
And cast their nets to the sea.

But the soft soaked sand of a tide bound beach
Is the best searching place for me.

Some find success with their nets and their hooks
Along with their rig and their gear.

But I find truth from the simplest sounds
Of shells held close to my ear.

Although the size of their catch is great
And a fine purse they'll get for their trade.

The pile of mine wouldn't earn me a dime
But I'm not finding shells to get paid.

The worth of a truth isn't found in its price
Whatever the market may be.

Truths are like treasures we find on a shore
They are priceless gifts from the sea.

Someday Isle
by Kelly Silvester

I charted a ship to Someday Isle
and dreamed of a glorious paradise sun.

I set my sails high and manned the wheel
I hoped for a fast wind and a strong run.

I’d heard of the treasures on Someday Isle
and dreamed of great riches and fame.

So I sold all I had for my boat and supplies
but I knew all my wealth I’d regain.

The voyage was rugged, the waves were quite rough
and at times I thought all was lost.

But I held on to that wheel and forged on ahead
“I’ll make it, regardless the cost”

One day I spotted dry land close ahead,
So I set my sails high once more.

I didn’t steer clear, enough of the reef
and I crashed far from the shore.

I’m stranded here now on Someday Isle
with no hope of rescue in sight.

But someday, I’ll make it back home to the shore
and tell of my terrible plight.

Life is a voyage of jewels and success
the foolish sailor will say.

But I realize the real jewel now
is the time that I spend with today!

Protect Your Belongings

Normally I ramble on about topics that interest me and hopefully speak the feelings of my heart. Hopefully the content of this blog touches lives for good.

There is a danger in sharing what I think or feel on this or any website. Sadly, there are people in the world that would rather spread poison than the fruits of peace and would attack me and my views, rather than ponder them. Because I have made my fair share of rude remarks on posts, texts, tweets, and blogs, I subject myself to the same sad commentary and scrutiny, and sorrowfully admit and apologize for my own jerkfullness.

Posion doesn't always come in the form of words. Recently I went out to my Honda, parked in a hotel parking lot, and found that my passenger window had been smashed and my laptops, scanner, and printer had been stolen. It was a Sunday morning. I called the police. They came and i quielty filled out a report, brushed the broken glass of my drivers seat, and drove to church.

Human beings are good at wrecking lives. But I want to be a part of the minority that tries to forge friendships, extends peace offerings, and simply loves and smiles a lot.

We sang Scatter Sunshine in church that Sunday morning. Although I had lost prize possessions, including hundreds of manuscript pages on my hard drives, I was determined to scatter some sunshine, and not to let the theives break into my heart and steal my love of life, others, and Jesus Christ.

Our own neglect is perhaps the worst poison. Hindsight demands that i recognize that I really shouldn't have left my valuables in the car in the first place. Eventually my computer equipment will be replaced. But what about the damage caused by neglecting close relationships?

To my family, friends, especially my wife and daughters, the broken window is instructive. Many years of neglect have left the broken pieces of my shattered glass all over the place. My own smash and grab mentality, over the years, cost me my closest and sweetest relationship. And that is something I will live with and remember all the rest of my life.

Still there is sunshine in my soul. I have sincere hope and faith in Jesus Christ that someday He will forgive me, and all those whose lives I have destroyed will forgive me as well. Mending hearts won't happen overnight, but with Christ's amazing grace, hearts can heal and lives can move forward.

Protect your belongings. They are everything.

The Many Major and Minor Mistakes of Man

It's Olympics time again! Watch even just a few minutes on television or the Internet and you realize that these are no ordinary human beings. Each athlete pushes the envelop of his or her sport. They are the quintessence of near perfection. But as the saying goes, nobody is perfect. And a bronze, or no medal at all, indicates some kind of error, some kind of misstep, or that, ever so unfortunate, someone else is faster, stronger, or just a hair better than you are.

But even for the Olympian, the old adage is also true: It isn't whether you win or lose it is how you play the game. Perhaps we can change that statement to read: It isn't whether you win or lose but that you tried, and that you tried your very best! There is triumph in trying! The ultimate medal is the personal reward that you get when you know you gave it your all.

But there are also unspoken players in each Olympic Games. The attention is all on the athletes, but the respect also must go to the coaches and judges. These men and women are also at the top of their game, for an entirely different reason. It is their expertise and skill set that also sets them apart from the entire human race. Quite frankly it is their knowledge and skills that got the young athletes to the Olympics in the first place, and ultimately decides who really is the best of the best.

The Olympics reminds us that the pursuit of perfection is possible and that intense practice is necessary. But the Olympics also teach us something else that is very important and often overlooked. The Olympic games teach us that by listening to coaches and judges we can overcome mistakes.

Like everything else in life, there are major and minor mistakes that athletes make. There are many major and minor mistakes that we all, as mortals, make. It is humanly impossible to avoid making mistakes, period. But that isn't where the focus should be, because that equates to too much pressure. The focus on mistake making should really be on these three ideas in this statement: How do i learn from my mistakes, correct my mistakes, and make as few mistakes, next time, as possible. That is how the Olympic Athletes do it and that is how we can do it.

We have a unique kind of coach and judge or coaches and judges in our lives. Prophets and Apostles are the divine authority on earth. Believe that. Believe that, and like the coaches and the judges of the Olympics,respect that. And know that these men only have your best interest at heart. They love you and advise you, on behalf of Jesus Christ, because they, including the Savior, and our Heavenly Father, want to see you succeed!

So the next time a coach or judge points out a mistake, thank him and "receive it with gladness" because that is the sure road to perfection.