Life On A Boat: part 37

- from today's "On Friday, For Fun" Department:

The first question folks like to ask when they find out you live on a boat is often, "How do you go to the bathroom?"

The quick answer is "Like everybody else." The proper yachtsman's answer might be "I'm sorry, but boats don't have bathrooms, they have heads" ... although I know neither response adequately addresses their curiosity.

What inquiring minds want to know is, "Where does it go when you go on a boat?" and the answer is: To be legal and respectful of the environment, Calypso's head flushes into a 20-gallon polyethylene holding tank.

So how do you know how much is in your tank so you've still got room left to go?

Well, about a month ago I installed a SensaTank monitor that lights up with staggered LEDs to let you know well in advance when your tank's getting full.

What happens when the holding tank gets full? It gets pumped out by a big vacuum cleaner contraption. The pumper has a huge hose with a nozzle that fits into a "deck fill" outlet on your boat.

The marina has a self-serve facility at the gas dock where you can pull up & pump out your own (it takes about 15 minutes), or you can call The Pump-Out Boat for slip-side service.



The devil's in the dockside details Department: one person living aboard a boat full-time requires a pump-out about once every 6-8 weeks. On the other hand, I've seen 100-ft houseboats with 90-gallon holding tanks and five people aboard that had to be pumped out every week.

Blue Horizons: follow-up

I created this image in PhotoShop to show the relative size of Blue Horizons, compared to Calypso.

The Blue Book aboard Blue Horizons

Yesterday afternoon I got invited to take a quick tour of a charter yacht, Blue Horizons, that's moored here at the marina. I especially enjoyed seeing the walk-in engine room ... which has more room than my entire boat. Lots more.



Oh, and she has an elevator, too. Really.

This is the galley (which also has more room than my entire boat). Under the cook top on the right is a dishwasher; it's all one unit. Neat.


Here's the master cabin:


You can see more photos here, and take a video tour here.

I couldn't help but ask about fuel economy. At full speed (22 knots/25 mph) she burns 100 gallons of fuel per hour. Normal cruise speed (8 knots/9.5 mph) sips a mere 18 gallons per hour.

Thanks to Captain Marty for the tour, and for his patience in answering my questions.

Know Your Hymns

Thanks to my friend Misty in Alabama for passing this along:


A few hymns for those who speed on public roads:

45 mph....................God Will Take Care of You

65 mph....................Nearer My God To Thee

85 mph....................This World Is Not My Home

95 mph....................Lord, I'm Coming Home

The Body: not the buffet, not the feedbag

Someone challenged me recently, "Do you know what a pastor's most important job is?" I was sure I didn't know the answer I was about to hear and that I would hear it anyway, so I shook my head No.

The answer came as an antagonistic accusation: "A pastor's only job is to feed the flock."

I said, "Is that scriptural?"

This person leaned back in his seat and crossed his arms. "I don't know where, but I'm sure it's in there somewhere."

-- -- --

The third time he said to him, "Simon son of John, do you love me?"
Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, "Do you love me?" He said, "Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you."

Jesus said, "Feed my sheep."

- John 21:17

-- -- ---

I don't believe Christ meant that his church should sit down every Sunday morning at a big spiritual Lazy Susan while the poor pastor runs back and forth from The Church Country Committee Kitchen to the serving table to make sure every member of the congregation has all their needs met because that was his calling.

I don't believe Christ taught that it's the preacher's job to make sure the flock waddles out of the pews at 12:01 PM fat n' happy ... thanks to the preacher's sweat and labor. I don't believe the pastor is the church's butler, their hired hand, their whipping boy, their Mr. Fix-It ... or even their Genie In A Bottle, either.

I don't believe for one minute that scripture teaches anything like that.

-- --

In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Grecian Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, "It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables.

"Brothers, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word."

- Acts 6:1-4

In other words the disciples knew that the church, which Christ intended to be his body on earth, had many members, with different talents and gifts- and each member ... not just the pastor- was called to play a participatory role.

Not that each member was called to stumble around dazed and disconnected in a pasture all week, waiting for a church bell on Sunday mornings to signal it's time to run to the altar in time to be fed.

For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.

Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.

- Romans 12:3-5

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.

- Colossians 3:15

Wired

Two developments today: first, I got my computer back from Dell's repair shop.

Second, I took a deep breath this morning and replaced Calypso's factory battery selector switch with this neat combiner from Blue Sea Systems. It's designed to work with one engine and two batteries; I did the connections to work with two engines, two batteries and an automatic battery combiner for charging.

"The new E-Series switch isolates your Start and House battery circuits, preventing accidental discharge of the Starting bank and also protecting your electronics from engine starting sags and spikes. Ideal when combined with a BatteryLink Automatic Charging Relay or isolator, which will automate charging, while the new Dual Circuit Plus will simplify the switching."
- West Marine

In other words, no more waking up mornings in the middle of nowhere with two dead batteries after forgetting to switch from "Start" to "House" the night before.

Little things count.

product endorsement

I was siting at an "outdoor cafe" tonight when a girl walked by wearing a pink Hustler t-shirt.

A female friend confirmed, "She's about 12 years old."

The girl re-appeared in a couple of minutes, this time carrying takeout from the restaurant next door, and climbed into the passenger seat of a $70,000 biscuit-looking SUV and yep ... Mom was behind the wheel.

-- -- --

Wonder what Mommy's reaction woulda been if, say on the way home, her 12 year old Hustler-t-shirt-wearing daughter had asked her to stop at the corner convenience store ... so she could pick up a copy of the current issue.

It'd be illegal for the girl to buy the magazine.

But it was apparently perfectly OK with Mom if her daughter endorsed the product in public.

Take a timeout

Take a musical timeout from the world and share the joy of knowing our eternity is safe through Christ.


I am Free

Mighty to Save

The Noise We Make
(Drown out the enemy; TURN UP THE VOLUME)

ps. I love you ... and pray Christ reveals himself every day- in ways you'd least expect- throughout your week.

Pinball love

Yep, life has patterns.

Over the past month I've seen a remarkable number of folks ... both men and women ... undergo an even more remarkable number of love affairs and relationships.

Some of these "relationships" have lasted for several months, and some for just one night.

What's common is the aftermath and the disappointment, a helplessness and despair asking, "I can't stand this happening to me ... What keeps going wrong?"

Yet (and this is so common it's almost a rule), within a week, they're goo-goo-gaa-gaa "head over heels in love" because they've "met someone new."

The folks I'm talking about bounce from bedroom to bedroom ... you get the idea.

Their lives have a pattern.

None of these folks are believers, none of them sees anything "wrong" with their sexual habits or sees any reason to act differently or question their motives ... and everyone of them will argue to the point of violence that they're in total control of their lives. And that they have a right and deserve to be happy.

They just can't seem to figure out what keeps going wrong.

Need for fame, need for fortune, the need that keeps me empty

Don't you know that You are a shooting star
And all the world will love you just as long
as long as you are
- Shooting Star
Bad Company





What you need is the love that lasts.

the damage done

Whoa is me, I'm so miserable and suffering so much ... nothing seems to be working; I think I'll buy a best-seller or get a prescription.


We live in a great country. We have so much freedom and opportunity that we feel every misfortune is a personal affront and an injustice ... and demands an immediate remedy.

Just so we can be happy.

We think about refinancing our mortgages to honor our bank commitments; we can't sleep at night thinking of schemes to shuffle our credit card debts to repay our student loans- and buy a new car; we're convinced God doesn't exist because we're single and sad, sitting at home on Friday nights watching either HGN or the Sci-Fi Channel, instead of lounging around feeling appreciated like we deserve.

We profess our faith on Sundays, but still conveniently overlook that we were purchased at a price.

Why do we act like we have the righteousness to even stand in the shadow of the cross, and tell Christ what we intend to do with our lives?

-- -- --

Adulterous affairs & sexual liaisons? Gambling or gossip? Deacon, what about a porn addiction?

SHUT YOUR MOUTH--- that's my business buddy, so BUTT OUT.

No, I love you too much to ignore you.

-- --- ---

We think the damage we do to ourselves is our choice, so somehow it seems permissible.

Nope, it's not ... no matter what the eggspurds say on TV to sell books.

It's the enemy ... not God, not Christ and not Holy Spirit who's arguing inside your head that YOU DESERVE AND HAVE A RIGHT TO BE HAPPY ... and never mind the damage done.

Satan wants you to have everything you crave ... and every physical satisfaction think you deserve in life: really, he does.

But.

Satan does not love you so much that he was willing to be die on the cross in your place and offer you eternal life. Did Satan ever say he loved you ... unless it was when you were being tempted? Nope, the truth is that the enemy is the father of all lies ... and he hates you.

Could be that's why he thinks the damage done is nobody else's business.

Except his.

Crippled eyes, crippled spirit

Tonight I saw a young girl, she was probably 9 or 10 years old, walk across a sidewalk on crutches to drop a dollar bill into a street musician's jar.

Who can say she's crippled or defective? Who can look at her and say she's not "measuring up," that she's somehow "less", or that she needs to be labeled for the rest of her life?

Who can see inside her heart ... and look past their own?