Warships, Ferryboats, and Divine Guidance

Now that the Christmas holiday is over, I’m almost, but not quite, ready to go back to work writing that book about knowing and following God’s will.

I’ve worked on that book off and on for years and I’d hoped to finish my first draft back in November, but I had to put it on the back burner while Ginny and I celebrated our anniversary, then Thanksgiving, family birthdays, and Christmas kicked in and I’ve delayed going back to work.

Now, our youngest daughter is getting married on January first and I just got an e-mail asking that I pick up 35 rental chairs and deliver them to the wedding venue. That should tie up my logistics for about three more days. But after the wedding, God willing, I can get back to thinking about divine guidance.

Meanwhile, thoughts of warships and ferryboats nudge my thinking.

The fishing village of Mayport lies at the mouth of the St. Johns River about a dozen miles east of my home. From the time of the first European settlers in the 1500s, the mouth of the St. Johns has been regarded as strategic importance. The French build Fort Caroline there to keep the Spanish out of the river. The Spanish killed the French settlers and took over the mouth of the river. The English under General Oglethorpe pushed the Spanish back and established Fort George opposite Mayport.

During the Civil War, Confederate forces established forts at Yellow Bluff and at St. Johns Bluff to protect the river from yankee invaders—who took over both batteries and control of shipping in the river.

Eventually the federal government established the Mayport Naval Base, homeport for carrier groups where the USS Kennedy and the USS Saratoga each carried enough weaponry to destroy whole continents. Now, plans are in the works to expand the base to make it capable of supporting nuclear aircraft carriers and their accompanying battle groups.

Crossing back and forth between Fort George Island and the landing in Mayport is a ferry service connecting the two sections of US Highway A1A on the north and south banks of the river.. The name of the ferryboat is the Buccaneer –A1A down the Florida coast is known as the Buccaneer Trail.

What does all that have to do with divine guidance?

In the midst of holiday activities I’ve been reading bits and pieces in the 1845 diary of Danish theologian Søren Kierkegaard; Something he said sparked my thinking about Mayport.

Kierkegaard observed that the captain of a ferry boat knows exactly where he is going. He sails from Landing A to Landing B and back again. While variations in current, weather, and river traffic influence his movement, by and large, he travels a straight path from here to there.

In contrast, the captain of a warship does not get his orders till he is already on the high seas. He leaves port and takes up station somewhere in mid ocean. There he patrols that general area till he receives orders to proceed to such and such a place to attack or defend a specific target.

Kierkegaard says that we Christians are more like warships than ferryboats.

In general our orders are to “occupy till I come” so we range in our general assigned area till other orders come down from High Command. We seldom go straight back and forth between landings like ferryboats; but sometimes we do range around on the open ocean as though we had no purpose, no specific destination. We appear to be cruising aimlessly.

Not so.

Kierkegaard said, “What I really lack is to be clear in my mind what I am to do, not what I am to know, except in so far as a certain understanding must precede action”.

I’m finding that thought helpful, because to be honest, I feel as though I’m just floundering around out here in deep water.

Maybe that’s exactly where I’m supposed to be.