Welcome to Tuesday Morning—a message to ponder whenever you are looking for something to ponder. Or something like that.

 

What do Christians do when they are facing an impossible task? What do they do when they have lost their life savings due to someone else's mismanagement of their retirement funds? Where do we turn for help? What does God's Word teach about how we deal with imminent disaster in our lives? Actually, the Word of God does have something to say. Here is one of my favorite passages, from Isaiah 40:29-31 (NIV):

 

"He (God) gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.

Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall;

but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.

They will soar on wings like eagles, they will run and not grow weary,

they will walk and not be faint."

 

Jesus was even more direct. He said (Matthew 17:20):

 

"Nothing will be impossible for you."

 

This week's Tuesday Morning is entitled, "Sail On." It's based on lines from a poem about Christopher Columbus written by American poet Joaquin Miller. It is attached below. Read on whenever you want to be motivated. Have a great week.

 

Tom Barnard

A Senior Encourager

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“Sail On!”

Tom Barnard

 

he actual names of the three ships Christopher Columbus sailed to the “new world” in 1492 were la Pinta, la Santa Maria, and Santa Clara (renamed later by the crew to a more popular poetic name).

 

Weather conditions during Columbus’s first voyage across the uncharted North Atlantic were as adverse as they could be. In fact, hope for a successful landing was grim at best. The la Pinta had lost her rudder, supplies were low, and morale was terrible. The crews of all three ships were threatening mutiny.

 

It has been said that Columbus kept a private log of his first voyage west. As the story goes, for weeks he repeated a daily entry to his log. He simply wrote, “This day we sailed on. Course WSW.” Nothing else. No historical details. Surely his confidence was badly shaken. There was so much to lose and so little to gain, from the perspective of a rich reward that was promised for his effort. But he had set his course—West by Southwest—and he was determined to continue on. Columbus was one among many many on the voyage. And no one stood with him when things were dark and emotions were ragged. He was alone.

 

American poet Joaquin Miller (ca 1841-1913) wrote what was possibly the most famous poem ever written about Columbus and his first voyage to America. It was entitled “Columbus” and at one time “was one of the most widely-known American poems, memorized and recited by legions of schoolchildren,” according to Wikipedia. Here are two stanzas from the poem:

 

Behind him lay the gray Azores,

Behind the Gates of Hercules;

Before him not the ghost of shores,

Before him only shoreless seas.

The good mate said: “Now we must pray,

For lo! The very stars are gone.

Brave Admiral, speak, what shall I say?”

“Why, say,’ Sail on! sail on! and on!’”

 

“My men grow mutinous by day;

My men grow ghastly pale and weak.”

The stout mate thought of home; a spray

Of salt wave washed his swarthy cheek.

“What shall I say, brave Admiral, say,

If we sight naught but seas at dawn?”

“Why, you shall say at break of day,

‘Sail on! sail on! sail on! and on!’”

 

Friend, you probably are not at sea—tired, fearful, and ready to abandon ship. And I am not Christopher Columbus. But I have seen enough of life to know that we all periodically face “shoreless seas.” We all “play hurt,” as athletes often say. We all face setbacks. Not every effort we have made in a good cause has ended successfully. Not all of our friends have stayed true to their pledges to us and to God. Not all of our marriages have been blessed with years of unbroken promises. Early on we were taught that not every day of our lives would be perfect. Or even part perfect.

 

The question, I guess, is this: What do we do when the present and future look bleak and hopeless? What do we do when our business collapses? What do we say when we have been told to give up? I think the “Brave Admiral” had it right. “Sail on! sail on! sail on! and on! Or, as another very wise man once said,

 

“Never give up! Never, ever, give up!”