Years ago, during a visit with my brother who was the CO of the U S Coast
Guard District covering the Mississippi River water shed, he showed me a video
capturing an incident on the Mississippi. A large shipping vessel had 'slipped' its
mooring lines and was floating down stream seemingly out-of-control. That is quite bad
enough. To make matters worse, it was headed for a collision with the river walk
shopping mall located on the edge of the river.
I'm sure you have heard the old saying that you can turn a small boat on a dime,
but an aircraft carrier takes a couple of miles. This vessel wasn't an aircraft carrier, but
it wasn't a row boat either, and nobody had a couple of miles, or even one, to 'play' with.
The Captain & Pilot of the vessel turned the rudder away from the pier, they
dropped the anchor to pull it to one side, they reversed the engines, and I'm pretty sure
they prayed.
lf you watch the video in slow motion it seems like nothing is changing (and yes,
my brother is trying to locate a copy of the video and send it to me), but if you watch it
in fast fonruard you get the full effect.
Obviously, at the very last moment, the vessel turns just enough to safely avoid
contact with the pier-amazingly not even scraping the paint.
The crazy part of this is that when I called Ron and asked if he still had access to
the video of the incident, he asked me, "Which time?" WOW. I will admit that that is
something that rarely happens in Tulsa, but it still amazes me that it has happened
several times in New Orleans. Granted they are on the Mississippi and we are on the
Arkansas, and nobody seems to concerned about a collision with a canoe or a bass
boat around here.
My point? lt's time to turn the corner on several things. With the start of school,
summer is unofficially/officially over.2026 is shrinking and 2027 is looming. Christmas
trees and displays are appearing. I am starting to thaw out the thanksgiving turkey. And
of course, I have to buy my Halloween costume before they are either sold out or put
back in storage until next May.
Seriously, we are turning a corner with our church, whether we want to, or not.
We will decide how we turn, and where we turn, but we will turn. We will decide
whether we want to be in control of the turn or just allow it to happen. Personally I don't
want to run aground, nor collide with a pier, in fact, I don't even want to scrape the
paint. I do want to plot our course & plan the best way to arrive where God wants us.
Belview is not a canoe, neither are we an aircraft carrier, but it will take
time and effort to turn the corner. So...drop anchor, turn the rudder, reverse your
engine, pray, and remember, "l know the plans I have for you. declares the Lord.
Plans to prosper you and not to harn you. Plans to give you hope and a future."
Jeremiah 29:11 AMEN & So Be lt! . 

            Dinner Time, See You Wednesday and Sunday

                       Bro. Tom and Sister Sue