For those of you who read last weeks post: "Clinging to the Life Line" and wanted the full scoop on the North Atlantic submarine account, here is a golden oldie Thought For the Day that gives the details. :-)
“God will not reject a heart that’s broken and sorry for sin.
He is not waiting to condemn you, to judge you.
He’s waiting to kiss you and say ‘I love you’”
Billy Graham… Life Wisdom from Billy Graham (p14)
I Love You…Over:
“Call unto me, and I will answer you,
and show you great and mighty things
which you don’t know about.”
Jeremiah 33:3
“The surface is clear, diving officer - surface the boat!”
“Surface the boat - aye Captain....Maneuvering - Conn*, prepare to surface -”
(*Conn – The Conning Tower is a small area above the control room from where the submarine is controlled while on the surface or at periscope depth.)
“Lookouts, surface watch Alpha, to the Conn”....
“Control Room – Conn… Surface the boat...
blow all main ballast tanks”
“Engine room - Conn.... prepare to start main engines”
“Maneuvering - Conn....prepare to charge the main battery”
The quietness of the boat’s routine was broken in a flurry of activity as men did what they had done countless times before, each one with resolute purpose, each one with anticipation or the boat’s every move, resonance and smell. As the boat took on air in its ballast tanks, the upward draw of positive buoyancy had its way on every crew member. The boat arose as an elevator and then bobbed on to the surface...the Conning Tower hatch flew open, frigid
salt-water cascaded down from atop the hatch, and the watchmen scurried through it to the top of the sail, in heavy foul-weather dress.
“The Captain has the watch”...
“The Captain has the watch aye...
“Engine room start main engines
and engage for surface running”
The cold Arctic salt-tainted air, raced down through the hatch and pierced through the heavy oily and musty air of the cramped compartments below. The engines lumbered struggling to start as a sleepy man taking his first morning steps....then they ignited into a deafening steady symphony like rhythmic beats of a kettle drum.
The sea watch standing on the Sail all turned aft momentarily as the engines exhaust rumbled to life blowing out clouds of black smoke from the exhaust ports, then giving way to the smooth steady hum of the diesel engines. Quickly they returned to their charge, binoculars sweeping the frigid horizon and nighttime cloud scattered icy sky. The boat surge forward and frosty air pressed against their faces, as the engines engaged the propulsion system. A slight smile couldn’t be denied, and despite the chill they were warm inside, for the boat was headed west-south-west.
As the cold arctic waters swelled past the engine ports the music of the engines was rhythmically muffled then released, and the crisp salt smells were welcomed by everyone, as it swept away the smells of diesel fuel from their clothing and bodies. Awakened senses surrounding all those aboard seemed to ignite a greater expectancy which had been growing for months; for after four months the small boat and her crew were headed home!
It started slowly, no one really expected it, and as alert as the crew had been they never saw it coming. It began as the wind shifted from the north-west and increased in intensity slightly. The cradling swells of the ocean began to rise and fall and the boat rose and fell in gentle agreement.
“Maneuvering - Conn” the Captain asked
“How much longer to full battery charge?”
“Conn - Maneuvering....
battery will be fully charged at zero - five thirty hours Sir,...
about one hour and forty minutes” ...came the reply.
“Very-well.”
“Radio room - Conn...
What’s the latest figures from SubLant on the weather?”
“Conn - Radio room...
the weather is clear ahead Sir, high pressure to the coast.”
“Very-well.”
“Officer-of-the-Deck to the Sail”
The officer who had stood at the hatch in the Conning tower swiftly moved at the command. He climbed through the hatch, then up the ladder to the first landing inside the sail, where he turned and ascended the upper ladder to the top of the Sail some twenty feet above the blackened sea below.
The Captain exchanged the pertinent information, course, speed, time to completion of the battery charge and said: “You have the Conn”, then he swiveled and disappeared below.
Short exchanges of information were passed on by the on-coming sea watch...there was no mention of the beauty of the cold steel-blue sky that was gaining a luminescent glow in the moments before the sunrise.
As the sun pierced the horizon the wind seemed to respond with sudden furry. The swells grew and the boat began to alternately ride high atop one wave only to plummet down its side into another oncoming wave of water. In what seemed only an instant, the whitecaps and waves became towering walls of water high cascading high above the sail in a boiling fury. As the bow pierced the frigid water, the little boat shuddered and the huge spray of crystalline blue green water engulfed the sail and the men. Rainbows of color were refracted everywhere in the first streams of the morning sun. It was beautiful, it was cold; and it was frightening. The men now huddled under the small plexi-glass bubble atop the sail. Their heavy foul weather gear was soaked with the frigid waters...their eyes no longer even attempted to scan the horizon that pitched up and down like a roller coaster. As the men looked at each other and saw the fear of their own eyes echoed in the eyes of their shipmates.
In minutes critical decisions had been made...stay surfaced until the ship’s battery was fully charged...the battery was long since charged, but now the watchmen were marooned atop the sail... numb from the cold, tired, hungry, and increasingly concerned with the raging seas..
They were unable to scramble down to the safety of the Conning Tower hatch, due to the water flooding the sail with every crushing wave. Lashed with heavy leather straps and buckles to the Sails metal rails, with hands so cold they could no longer grasp. The men huddled together simply fighting to breath as the giant swells now plummeted down on the minute craft, literally forcing it to partially submerge while on the surface.
Words of encouragement periodically came up to the men over the ships 1MC speaker, but they had long since stopped listening or attempting to reply.
Thoughts flooded their minds: “This is it”,... “We’ll never get out of this,”... “If I die I hope at least I’ll stay tied to the sail.” Their dreary thoughts were as cold as their shivering bodies...death seemed more a friend than an enemy, as their minds began to swirl as hypothermia set in.
It was a beautiful night, warm and tender on the French Riviera. The two submarines were peacefully moored side by side in the most unlikely of settings… Monte Carlo, Monaco . The lights of the principality glistened with the expectancy of the Christmas holiday, the castle, in all its splendor, could be seen not far in the distance.
I had been up all night unable to sleep. At dinnertime Dave, our radiomen told me I was third on the list. Who could sleep! At three o'clock in the morning I would get to hear my wife’s voice, and be able to wish her a Merry Christmas from half-way around the world. Much more, we would be leaving Monaco shortly for the trip to Gibraltar and then home by the middle of January...who could sleep?
Three o’clock finally arrived and the CB connections were made...our boat’s radio to a “Ham” operator in Germany, to another in “Ham” in Virginia who made the long distance calls to families and friends in the States. It was a complex operation that required a lot of patients by all parties.
The hardest part was saying those things your wife needed to hear, while three other operators were listening to your every word. And then there was the “Over”....
Each time you completed a sentence and wanted a reply you had to say “Over”. That’s when all three radiomen switched channels to allow communication in the opposite direction. It went like this: “I’m really excited about coming home...Over”....Oh… I can’t wait until you get here.... Over” “Me too...Over.” “How’s the weather in France?... Over”
Well you get the picture. At the very end of our “group conversation”, my young bride while fighting back her tears said “I love you...Over” and I replied “I love you too...over and out.”
Buffeted by a sudden surge the boat raised atop a huge wave, where it seemed to dance momentarily in the air only to cascade down into the darkening sea. My memory was dashed away in the sudden movement, and the tiredness, cold and fear came flooding pervasively back to consume my consciousness.
Now with the storm swirling around us, my fears were shaking me even more than the cold, but my mind slipped back to those precious words...“I love you...Over” They warmed me and somehow gave me hope... a reason not to give up....the storm raged on yet somehow in the middle of the whirlwind they came to me again and again...“I love you...Over”, “I love you...Over,” “I love you...Over”...and there was somehow an inner peace in midst of the storm.
As I have read in the gospels the accounts of the miracles of Jesus, I often am captivated by how many times after performing a miracle Jesus would instruct the person to go and tell no one. Can you imagine the crowds that pressed in?... “Jesus is in town, quick go to your family, get all who need to be healed, those who need to be delivered, those who need to be encouraged; and bring them to the well, or to the temple square.”, (or wherever He might have been). Over and over, Jesus put aside His personal needs and the needs of his disciples, and focused in compassion and love on the needs of all those who came. There is not one instance recorded where Jesus is seen denying a request for healing of deliverance! They pressed in over and over again...there was no end to the need, and seldom an indication that their healings and deliverances were followed with much, if any, gratitude.
Have you too wondered: “How did He do it?”
If we look in the scripture carefully, we will find the answer. Jesus whole ministry was characterized by hours of preparation prayer and being lead by the Holy Spirit. He went from one place of prayer to another, and in between times he performed miracles upon miracles. Often the Word declares, “He healed all their sick.” The Word of God proclaims that if all the miracles that were performed by Jesus had been recorded, the world couldn’t contain all the books that would be needed. (John 21:25)
I’m sure there were times when Christ felt disappointment (when the disciples failed to grasp and follow His teachings and His example), when He would feel deep remorse (at the death of John the Baptist) or when He was simply physically worn out from giving time after time (the woman touching His garment).
And there were times when he sent the crowds away (Matthew 14:22) but only to go to prayer. He had a strict priority....He knew that it was more important to take care of the priority of prayer, than to minister to the needy....prayer first, then ministry.
Jesus knew the secret of being recreated in the secret place of prayer.... in the quiet presence of His fathers love...hearing His fathers voice...hearing from home.
If Jesus felt this necessity, don’t you think we too need to make this our priority? All of our ministry should come out of being ministered to. In the middle of the stress and storm of the masses pressing in to get something from Jesus, He always took time to “call home” to His heavenly Father
Perhaps, in those times when the crowds pressed in and life seemed to swirl around him as a tornado, He too remembered those calls home to His Father, when I’m sure He heard “I love you...Over”
The next time you feel the storms of life closing in on you, when you feel you can’t endure for another moment you just might want to give your Heavenly Father a call so He can tell you: “When your whirlwind of life breaks loose, heaven will draw near.” Then, you and I will feel God hand. The joy will outweigh the endeavor when we hear Him say.......“I love you...Over”
“Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind..”
Job 38:1
Have a blessed day in the Anchor who calms every sea…
Fred<><
He is not waiting to condemn you, to judge you.
He’s waiting to kiss you and say ‘I love you’”
Billy Graham… Life Wisdom from Billy Graham (p14)
I Love You…Over:
“Call unto me, and I will answer you,
and show you great and mighty things
which you don’t know about.”
Jeremiah 33:3
“The surface is clear, diving officer - surface the boat!”
“Surface the boat - aye Captain....Maneuvering - Conn*, prepare to surface -”
(*Conn – The Conning Tower is a small area above the control room from where the submarine is controlled while on the surface or at periscope depth.)
“Lookouts, surface watch Alpha, to the Conn”....
“Control Room – Conn… Surface the boat...
blow all main ballast tanks”
“Engine room - Conn.... prepare to start main engines”
“Maneuvering - Conn....prepare to charge the main battery”
The quietness of the boat’s routine was broken in a flurry of activity as men did what they had done countless times before, each one with resolute purpose, each one with anticipation or the boat’s every move, resonance and smell. As the boat took on air in its ballast tanks, the upward draw of positive buoyancy had its way on every crew member. The boat arose as an elevator and then bobbed on to the surface...the Conning Tower hatch flew open, frigid
salt-water cascaded down from atop the hatch, and the watchmen scurried through it to the top of the sail, in heavy foul-weather dress.
“The Captain has the watch”...
“The Captain has the watch aye...
“Engine room start main engines
and engage for surface running”
The cold Arctic salt-tainted air, raced down through the hatch and pierced through the heavy oily and musty air of the cramped compartments below. The engines lumbered struggling to start as a sleepy man taking his first morning steps....then they ignited into a deafening steady symphony like rhythmic beats of a kettle drum.
The sea watch standing on the Sail all turned aft momentarily as the engines exhaust rumbled to life blowing out clouds of black smoke from the exhaust ports, then giving way to the smooth steady hum of the diesel engines. Quickly they returned to their charge, binoculars sweeping the frigid horizon and nighttime cloud scattered icy sky. The boat surge forward and frosty air pressed against their faces, as the engines engaged the propulsion system. A slight smile couldn’t be denied, and despite the chill they were warm inside, for the boat was headed west-south-west.
As the cold arctic waters swelled past the engine ports the music of the engines was rhythmically muffled then released, and the crisp salt smells were welcomed by everyone, as it swept away the smells of diesel fuel from their clothing and bodies. Awakened senses surrounding all those aboard seemed to ignite a greater expectancy which had been growing for months; for after four months the small boat and her crew were headed home!
It started slowly, no one really expected it, and as alert as the crew had been they never saw it coming. It began as the wind shifted from the north-west and increased in intensity slightly. The cradling swells of the ocean began to rise and fall and the boat rose and fell in gentle agreement.
“Maneuvering - Conn” the Captain asked
“How much longer to full battery charge?”
“Conn - Maneuvering....
battery will be fully charged at zero - five thirty hours Sir,...
about one hour and forty minutes” ...came the reply.
“Very-well.”
“Radio room - Conn...
What’s the latest figures from SubLant on the weather?”
“Conn - Radio room...
the weather is clear ahead Sir, high pressure to the coast.”
“Very-well.”
“Officer-of-the-Deck to the Sail”
The officer who had stood at the hatch in the Conning tower swiftly moved at the command. He climbed through the hatch, then up the ladder to the first landing inside the sail, where he turned and ascended the upper ladder to the top of the Sail some twenty feet above the blackened sea below.
The Captain exchanged the pertinent information, course, speed, time to completion of the battery charge and said: “You have the Conn”, then he swiveled and disappeared below.
Short exchanges of information were passed on by the on-coming sea watch...there was no mention of the beauty of the cold steel-blue sky that was gaining a luminescent glow in the moments before the sunrise.
As the sun pierced the horizon the wind seemed to respond with sudden furry. The swells grew and the boat began to alternately ride high atop one wave only to plummet down its side into another oncoming wave of water. In what seemed only an instant, the whitecaps and waves became towering walls of water high cascading high above the sail in a boiling fury. As the bow pierced the frigid water, the little boat shuddered and the huge spray of crystalline blue green water engulfed the sail and the men. Rainbows of color were refracted everywhere in the first streams of the morning sun. It was beautiful, it was cold; and it was frightening. The men now huddled under the small plexi-glass bubble atop the sail. Their heavy foul weather gear was soaked with the frigid waters...their eyes no longer even attempted to scan the horizon that pitched up and down like a roller coaster. As the men looked at each other and saw the fear of their own eyes echoed in the eyes of their shipmates.
In minutes critical decisions had been made...stay surfaced until the ship’s battery was fully charged...the battery was long since charged, but now the watchmen were marooned atop the sail... numb from the cold, tired, hungry, and increasingly concerned with the raging seas..
They were unable to scramble down to the safety of the Conning Tower hatch, due to the water flooding the sail with every crushing wave. Lashed with heavy leather straps and buckles to the Sails metal rails, with hands so cold they could no longer grasp. The men huddled together simply fighting to breath as the giant swells now plummeted down on the minute craft, literally forcing it to partially submerge while on the surface.
Words of encouragement periodically came up to the men over the ships 1MC speaker, but they had long since stopped listening or attempting to reply.
Thoughts flooded their minds: “This is it”,... “We’ll never get out of this,”... “If I die I hope at least I’ll stay tied to the sail.” Their dreary thoughts were as cold as their shivering bodies...death seemed more a friend than an enemy, as their minds began to swirl as hypothermia set in.
It was a beautiful night, warm and tender on the French Riviera. The two submarines were peacefully moored side by side in the most unlikely of settings… Monte Carlo, Monaco . The lights of the principality glistened with the expectancy of the Christmas holiday, the castle, in all its splendor, could be seen not far in the distance.
I had been up all night unable to sleep. At dinnertime Dave, our radiomen told me I was third on the list. Who could sleep! At three o'clock in the morning I would get to hear my wife’s voice, and be able to wish her a Merry Christmas from half-way around the world. Much more, we would be leaving Monaco shortly for the trip to Gibraltar and then home by the middle of January...who could sleep?
Three o’clock finally arrived and the CB connections were made...our boat’s radio to a “Ham” operator in Germany, to another in “Ham” in Virginia who made the long distance calls to families and friends in the States. It was a complex operation that required a lot of patients by all parties.
The hardest part was saying those things your wife needed to hear, while three other operators were listening to your every word. And then there was the “Over”....
Each time you completed a sentence and wanted a reply you had to say “Over”. That’s when all three radiomen switched channels to allow communication in the opposite direction. It went like this: “I’m really excited about coming home...Over”....Oh… I can’t wait until you get here.... Over” “Me too...Over.” “How’s the weather in France?... Over”
Well you get the picture. At the very end of our “group conversation”, my young bride while fighting back her tears said “I love you...Over” and I replied “I love you too...over and out.”
Buffeted by a sudden surge the boat raised atop a huge wave, where it seemed to dance momentarily in the air only to cascade down into the darkening sea. My memory was dashed away in the sudden movement, and the tiredness, cold and fear came flooding pervasively back to consume my consciousness.
Now with the storm swirling around us, my fears were shaking me even more than the cold, but my mind slipped back to those precious words...“I love you...Over” They warmed me and somehow gave me hope... a reason not to give up....the storm raged on yet somehow in the middle of the whirlwind they came to me again and again...“I love you...Over”, “I love you...Over,” “I love you...Over”...and there was somehow an inner peace in midst of the storm.
As I have read in the gospels the accounts of the miracles of Jesus, I often am captivated by how many times after performing a miracle Jesus would instruct the person to go and tell no one. Can you imagine the crowds that pressed in?... “Jesus is in town, quick go to your family, get all who need to be healed, those who need to be delivered, those who need to be encouraged; and bring them to the well, or to the temple square.”, (or wherever He might have been). Over and over, Jesus put aside His personal needs and the needs of his disciples, and focused in compassion and love on the needs of all those who came. There is not one instance recorded where Jesus is seen denying a request for healing of deliverance! They pressed in over and over again...there was no end to the need, and seldom an indication that their healings and deliverances were followed with much, if any, gratitude.
Have you too wondered: “How did He do it?”
If we look in the scripture carefully, we will find the answer. Jesus whole ministry was characterized by hours of preparation prayer and being lead by the Holy Spirit. He went from one place of prayer to another, and in between times he performed miracles upon miracles. Often the Word declares, “He healed all their sick.” The Word of God proclaims that if all the miracles that were performed by Jesus had been recorded, the world couldn’t contain all the books that would be needed. (John 21:25)
I’m sure there were times when Christ felt disappointment (when the disciples failed to grasp and follow His teachings and His example), when He would feel deep remorse (at the death of John the Baptist) or when He was simply physically worn out from giving time after time (the woman touching His garment).
And there were times when he sent the crowds away (Matthew 14:22) but only to go to prayer. He had a strict priority....He knew that it was more important to take care of the priority of prayer, than to minister to the needy....prayer first, then ministry.
Jesus knew the secret of being recreated in the secret place of prayer.... in the quiet presence of His fathers love...hearing His fathers voice...hearing from home.
If Jesus felt this necessity, don’t you think we too need to make this our priority? All of our ministry should come out of being ministered to. In the middle of the stress and storm of the masses pressing in to get something from Jesus, He always took time to “call home” to His heavenly Father
Perhaps, in those times when the crowds pressed in and life seemed to swirl around him as a tornado, He too remembered those calls home to His Father, when I’m sure He heard “I love you...Over”
The next time you feel the storms of life closing in on you, when you feel you can’t endure for another moment you just might want to give your Heavenly Father a call so He can tell you: “When your whirlwind of life breaks loose, heaven will draw near.” Then, you and I will feel God hand. The joy will outweigh the endeavor when we hear Him say.......“I love you...Over”
“Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind..”
Job 38:1
Have a blessed day in the Anchor who calms every sea…
Fred<><
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