Shrimp Trawler

How was I to turn the boat around without anyone noticing? The men whom I invited to fishing were all depending on me. They were so impressed with my abilities as a seaman, sailing the boat through the channels and shallows that led to open water Gulf of Mexico. A few minutes earlier, I had managed to dodge five tornadoes form generated by the passage of storms and they enthusiastically slapped me in the back.

How could I let on that I was going in the wrong direction for the last thirty minutes and we do not have enough fuel to return to Key West? Boat was my job. I was a sailor and sailors have not made these mistakes.

Maybe if I stopped to let them fish for a few minutes, they do not notice when I restart the engine as we headed back the way we came. Even if they did, they would surely understand. This could happen to anyone. The haze left by the storms of the limited visibility to less than a mile. It was difficult to know where to go. Of course, I checked my compass, but the sailors have built in navigation system. and trust their instincts.

water depth and underwater topography told me everything I need to know about where we were. I had been here a hundred times and I knew exactly where we were. Within minutes the fog was lifting and we see the island ahead.

The fog did lift, but there was no island. There was nothing but water in every direction. Trying to hide my panic, I swallowed my pride and watched the compass. We were going exactly in the opposite direction of Key West!

Like I struggled with how to get out of this situation without losing face, a shrimp trawler about one quarter of a mile that I had not noticed it at once a sign of his horn. The crew were frantically waving their arms trying to attract our attention. I made a sharp turn to port and accelerate more happy for the diversion and the opportunity once again to show my skills sailor.

I pulled on one side of the Shrimp, "my engine idling and yelled above the drone of their engines more" what is the problem? "In halting English of Hispanic men shouted back" we have lost in the ocean, which is Keya WESA? "

Well it was there. Now I was on the spot. I could no longer avoid the problem. My sins had found and it was time to pay the piper. I could see two men in my boat already beginning to point in the direction I had been at the head and I knew there was no escape for me.

I was a sailor and I was not about to put other sailors at risk by giving bad directions just to save face. I could feel shock my crew that I greeted their attempts to place quickly and sign in the right direction, "said the master of others" in this way ... set your boat 115 degrees and it will take you right Key West Harbor.

Now I was embarrassed. I never understood that old cliched "the silence was deafening." Now that I knew. Nobody said anything yet, so they said. The only way I have felt more ashamed if I was seasick myself in front of my friends.

I was humiliated and if I know humility is a good thing, it certainly did not feel good at the moment. But I learned a very important lesson. Always trust your compass on your instincts.

This lesson has a spiritual meaning for me too. When it comes to the direction of my life, I need to consult the compass of God, the Word of God. As the compass is the guide boats of a sailor, so is the Word of God to guide a ship Christian.

In I Kings 8:56 (KJV) tells us "... He has not missed a single word of all his promises. "Solomon was providing tha Israel.