Daily Prayer, 25 January

A Sailor’s time at sea is spent largely on two efforts, repair and maintenance of the ship and practicing how to fight the ship. To the latter end drills are conducted almost daily, both combat drills to exercise the weapons systems and the Sailors who operate them, and damage control drills to exercise the crew’s ability to mitigate and repair battle damage. There are also ship handling drills to exercise the crew’s ability to maneuver under both combat and emergency conditions. I often witnessed this last kind of drill from the bridge, and so was there one day when the bridge crew was running torpedo evasion drills, during which upon “detection” of a torpedo in the water the helm would ring up the fastest bell possible and begin making hard turns, first to one direction then the other. I watched from the bridge wing as the ship heeled from one side to the other as it cut a large, churning, s-shaped wake behind her. I wrote the following evening prayer that day.

While we were doing our torpedo evasion this morning, I looked behind the ship and noticed that though we were cutting a vigorous wake and knuckling the water pretty good, it wasn’t that far behind us that our wake disappeared and the ocean closed over it like we were never there. It reminded me of an ancient proverb wherein one of history’s wisest men says:

“Now there are three things I cannot understand, and a fourth I do not know;
The track of a flying eagle,
And the ways of a serpent upon a rock,
And the paths of a ship passing through the sea,
And the ways of a man in his youth.” (Prov 30:19-20, LXX)

What I think the Wise Man is saying is that it’s impossible to tell by looking at him, how a man got to where he is, or how he became who he is. We can only tell where and who he is now. All of us took different paths coming to this ship, and though some may be similar, no two are exactly alike. One of the most interesting things in all of life is learning from someone how they got where they are, but you can’t tell from looking at him—we don’t even cut a short wake. You have to ask him or her and then listen to the reply. You may be surprised by what you discover, or maybe not, but I can promise that we will all be better off if we all get to know each other better.

LET US PRAY

Heavenly Father, I thank you that we have countless opportunities to encounter each other anew each day. I pray you will help us to take advantage of those opportunities and by your grace may we build a stronger bond of community serving each other, and our nation, faithfully and diligently, by your Divine Might and Power. Help us to do your will always, now and forever and to the ages of ages.

AMEN