Religion Today: Sailing
Guest Writer Spotlight: Sailing – By Richard Lewis
My wife and I used to rent a 30 foot sailboat and take our friends out for a sail around Newport harbor. We had taken some lessons through a sailing club. Most of our sailing adventures were close by in Newport Harbor but occasionally, we’d venture out into the ocean and sail close along the coastline. One lovely summer day we took a boat out and sailed down the coast towards San Diego. Eventually, as the day began to wind down, we turned around and began to head back home, going along the picturesque coastline. We were eating snacks, having soft drinks, and visiting with our friends.
As the Captain, I occasionally barked orders to the crew that we were tacking or that we needed to tighten the jib or loosen the mainsail. The crew whined only occasionally and generally responded well to my requests for action and although it upset their visiting and nibbling on snacks, there appeared to be no spirit of mutiny afoot! Arg! It was a great day to be out on the water!
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All was well onboard as the wind blew over the perfectly trimmed sails, heeling the boat over and we moved through the water very nicely. In this seemingly perfect environment, I looked over and made a mental note of a large building on the shore. After some time, I again checked my landmark reference point on the shoreline only to discover, much to my surprise, that we were not making any headway in relation to the shoreline at all. We were staying in the same place.
It was then I remembered from our sailing lessons that the current known as the California Current goes down the coast in this area at about the same speed as our boat can sail so we were actually standing still. I tossed a couple of Goldfish crackers into the water and they quickly moved astern. We were moving in relation to the water, but not in relation to the shoreline.
In the little world of our boat, we were having a wonderful time eating, drinking and visiting, but in reality we were going nowhere fast and indeed we would never get back to our home port. Soon, I had to reach over to flip the switches that would fire up our small diesel engine. Fortunately, it came to life and whisked us home against the current.
Watching our efforts at sailing on the shoreline, there were probably two groups of people. Perhaps, one larger group saw the pretty sails on our boat and thought, “Wouldn’t it be fun to be out there!” Another much smaller group might consist of former sailors who recognized what was happening. If we weren’t so far from shore they might be calling out a warning like, “You aren’t making any headway. Change your course, tack out into some fresh offshore breeze or start your engine or you’ll never get to your home port!”
Likewise for those of us walking with the Lord, we need to encourage others to change course and to tack out and bring the fresh breeze of God’s Spirit into their lives. We need to warn those who can’t see the seriousness of the direction they are going. We on the shoreline of life need to be shouting out the appropriate warnings to prevent others from never reaching their eternal destination with their Heavenly Father.
It is not because we are “judging them” but because we have seen the fruit of our own sin and know the price is high. You see we have learned that you can choose your sin but not the consequences. Of course, all this needs to be done in humility lest we are trying to help others to remove the splinter in their eye while we have a beam in our own. In some cases our cautions will fall on deaf ears but that result is up to God.
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Galatians 6:1 “Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted.”
Luke 17:27 “People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all.”
Ezekiel 3:21 “But if you do warn the righteous man not to sin and he does not sin, he will surely live because he took warning, and you will have saved yourself.”
Luke 6:41-42 “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”
Richard Lewis is a graduate of Arizona State University (Advertising) and California Baptist University (Computer Information Systems). Richard and his wife Sue met while they served as staff members at Campus Crusade for Christ for 8 years in the 1970’s. Richard served in the Campus Ministry at University of Texas at El Paso, Louisiana Tech and at the International Headquarters in San Bernardino, California.
Following their ministry in Campus Crusade Richard was the owner and manager of a bicycle shop in Riverside California for 19 years. After retraining in the computer field at California Baptist University, Richard worked as a Information Systems contractor and employee at Boeing for 17 years. Richard has written over 150 published articles in Information Systems and Computing publications including Windows Magazine and Windows Scripting Solutions. Richard has served in a leadership role as a Deacon and Elder in several churches as well as being a meditation presenter and Men’s Ministry coordinator.
Richard has written hundreds of meditations and devotionals that have been used in church and small group meetings. Many of these have been published in The Upper Room and Racers For Christ publications and on their web sites.
In 2021 Richard published a collection of his devotionals. These are available in a Kindle and paperback format on Amazon (ISBN 979-8705738878) “Life Stories to Uplift and Encourage”.
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Trevor Montgomery, 50, moved in 2017 to the Intermountain area of Shasta County from Riverside County and runs Riverside County News Source (RCNS) and Shasta County News Source (SCNS).
Additionally, he writes or has written for several other news organizations; including Riverside County-based newspapers Valley News, Valley Chronicle, Anza Valley Outlook, and Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle; the Bonsall/Fallbrook Village News in San Diego County; and Mountain Echo in Shasta County. He is also a regular contributor to Thin Blue Line TV and Law Enforcement News Network and has had his stories featured on news stations throughout the Southern California and North State regions.
Trevor spent 10 years in the U.S. Army as an Orthopedic Specialist before joining the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department in 1998. He was medically retired after losing his leg, breaking his back, and suffering both spinal cord and brain injuries in an off-duty accident. (Click here to see segment of Discovery Channel documentary of Trevor’s accident.)
During his time with the sheriff’s department, Trevor worked at several different stations; including Robert Presley Detention Center, Southwest Station in Temecula, Hemet/Valle Vista Station, Ben Clark Public Safety Training Center, and Lake Elsinore Station; along with other locations.
Trevor’s assignments included Corrections, Patrol, DUI Enforcement, Boat and Personal Water-Craft based Lake Patrol, Off-Road Vehicle Enforcement, Problem Oriented Policing Team, and Personnel/Background Investigations. He finished his career while working as a Sex Crimes and Child Abuse Investigator and was a court-designated expert in child abuse and child sex-related crimes.
Trevor has been married for more than 30 years and was a foster parent to more than 60 children over 13 years. He is now an adoptive parent and his “fluid family” includes 13 children and 18 grandchildren.