Work

The plan is slowly materializing. We are actually looking for “the boat”, the boat to sail our family around the world one day. For a long time this dream seemed so far away and to be honest I never really believed deep in my heart that it would happen. We talked fondly of all the places we’d visit and all the experiences we would have. But, outside of working and saving money we hadn’t really made committed steps toward our dream until now.




Three years from this summer we plan to place our boat on Kerr Lake (an inland seaport that many people don’t know exists in Oklahoma). Once there, we will spend our time preparing our ship for departure. We will eventually work our way down the Arkansas River navigation project, which will lead us to the sea (there’s a bit more to it, but you get the idea). For the first 3-5 years we plan to explore the Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean and the northern part of South America. After discussing our plans with some old salts (aka ocean sailors) we made a well thought out decision to wait until we have lots of blue water sailing experience before attempting 8,000 miles of the open sea with no land in site for a month.



First, however, we must find our vessel. This is a major effort requiring great thought, prayer and effort. After all, this will be our home and carry our most precious cargo, our children. For some time I’ve struggled with the thought that perhaps we are pursuing a selfish dream and this notion of seeing the world on our boat isn’t really what we should be doing as followers of Christ. So I’ve prayed much about our decision while we wait for doors to open or close and place one foot in front of the other. During my 37 years of living I have grown to see that there are no coincidences. If our hearts are open and we are truly following Christ’s lead then he quietly and gently guides each step through the Holy Spirit.



As we’ve prayed, planned and searched, people have crossed our paths to confirm what we are doing is right. Almost as if the Lord is giving us a quiet nod of approval. One of the first “coincidences” I remember happened a couple of summers ago. An older gentlemen was strolling along the docks where we keep our now boat “Fiasco”. He must have been in his late 70’s or early 80’s…he stopped to admire Fiasco and as we began exchanging information learned of his personal sailing history. He spent time ocean sailing and over a period of an hour or two gave us lots of valuable words of encouragement and advice. We’ve never seen him since.



The next summer we met a missionary couple from Honduras one Wednesday evening at church. They were in town making a rare visit to some mutual friends of ours. As “coincidence” would have it, they also lived on a sailboat in a Honduran port city. Their boat is a 44 foot Gulfstar CSY. They utilize their ship to reach people on islands that are only accessible by boat. They shared with us how much they trusted their boat and they had even made a major ocean passage with her. They too had words of advice and encouragement for us.



This winter we’ve looked at countless boats on-line and traveled to Texas and Arkansas to see three of them in person. Just this past weekend we visited Kemah Texas (near Houston) to look at two boats. Along the way we’ve considered Beneteau Yachts, Hunter Yachts, Catalina Yachts and many others’s we felt were in our price range. We never even considered a Gulfstar CSY, but while there we learned of one for sale just in our price range right down the dock from one of the boats we saw. We were so excited and tried to make contact with the broker so we could look her over. Unfortunately our experience with this particular yacht broker, without going into details, was unusually negative and we were never able to get a full look at the vessel. We left Kemah feeling discouraged and it was quite obvious that door was closed. But, all was not lost since we decided to see if there were more Gulfstars out there.



The following Monday we began searching the Internet for 44’ Gulfstars. We found one…on Lake Texoma only 3 hours away from us! It was perfect and right in our price range. However, there were few details listed about the boat so we were a bit hesitant about making the trip to see her. Several months earlier and before our serious look at boats, my husband started a forum subject during one of his many hours spent on a sailing website. He asked the question “What is the perfect blue water boat”. Posts were made to the forum off and on for several months from various sailor types all over the world. That Monday, after describing the negative Kemah experience on his newest post, my husband received a private message from a sailor named Cardiac Paul. Here’s what he wrote:



“I don't wander around here anymore; wish I'd seen your post earlier.






Sorry about your trip to Kemah, that sucks.






I know about a Gulfstar for sale, it’s on a freshwater lake (Lake Texoma) and it’s listed on yachtworld.


The boat IS built like a Russian tank and owned by a circumnavigating 80 yr old pipe-smoking author. He uses nothing but the best on his boat, and I know the broker. I'd trust them both with my wife.






AND I know a CSY center cockpit walk over that might be for sale docked about 40 ft away from the Gulfstar.






I've got no dog in either hunt; I just know both fellas, and their boats.






Here’s the yachtworld listing for the Gulfstar….”



The link he posted was the very boat we saw on-line the day before! Our plan is to go see the boat this weekend. I’m not sure if this is our ship and truthfully still not sure the Lord intends to send us around the world. In Ephesians Paul talks about walking in God’s work:



Ephesians 2:4-10


4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.



As my husband and I look back over the years, we marvel at how God brought us where we are today. The people who crossed our paths and the experiences we’ve had have all prepared us for this time. Even in those dark days of our lives when we chose not to walk on the path prepared for us, God still worked all things together for good. I don’t know what He has in mind for our crazy quilt sailing family, but we are truly privileged and humbled to walk in the Lord’s work as he prepares us for the ages to come.