Weekly Update: A Long Awaited Word, and Matters of the Heart

I know the news everybody is waiting for is on our readiness for sailing and the next ports we will head to. I am proud to report that we are one step closer, as the surveyor came on board yesterday to finish checking things for the PSSC, and we passed all of his expectations. This means that the PSSC is within our grasp, and all we need to do now is pass one more audit on the hardware of the ship. This is called the ISM audit, and will take place on Monday. Leadership is confident that this will be obtained, and the rest of Ships Company is very excited.

The next answer I can attempt to provide is the where question. We plan on heading to Sweden for our first sail, and plan on trying to fix the kinks of a first sail, and on training the past two PST’s on sailing. After a couple weeks in Sweden we would like to sail to the Netherlands for another couple week stay in a town outside of Amsterdam. This would then be followed by the UK tour with stops in all five of the countries there in towns such as Edinburgh, London, Cardiff, Belfast, and others. I have also heard rumors of a trip to the Faroe Islands in the future to show a good number of workers and supporters that live there the finished, or nearly finished, ship. All of these places are very exciting to think of visiting, and Ships Company is ridiculously excited for this, as am I.

Beyond all this chaos, life has been very good with me. Today I am off, and went on a walk (maybe my last in Denmark) to the ocean and just reflected on my time here, and how much I have enjoyed my decision to come. I also realized that in these posts, I very rarely discuss my spiritual life (without symbolism) which is so very pivotal in my time on board. The fact is that my growth has been vast, but I still not where I’d like to be, and I am so far from perfect. At home it was so easy to live in a luke-warm fashion. Here it is the opposite of what my mind wants. This is where I run into problems, my mind gladly follows God (most of the time), but my heart is wild. I am truly a romantic at heart and it is easy for me to get caught up in a lot of earthly things. My heart has chased selfish pleasure and fulfillment since I was young, and now this is my toughest battle. I fight the desires of a dark heart and try to fill it with the only love that will make it satisfied, but often it is so hard to love one who hides himself in everything we see. I see the beauty of this world, and the people in it, and say that is God himself, but in my heart I love the world and the things in it. The first step to dealing with this problem has been realization of it. I am on my way.

I have realized a whole lot about myself in my time away from all the “stuff” back home, the ugly and the nice, but more the ugly. I realized how dark I can be and that my heart has undoubtedly become harder than I would wish it to. More realizations have hit me, but one always strikes home; the absolute fullness of Grace. It covers up all of my foolishness and pride, and is my only hope in life these days. My youth was squandered on a fool’s quest for self -fulfillment, and now the realization of these things could tear me apart, but I can’t afford to be torn when God’s grace is so darn prevalent in this world. Praise God for his unhindered love.