I spent 27 years in the Navy overall and served on three different ships. First I was on a World War II aircraft carrier that was converted to a communications ship. It went up and down the east coast. It was homeported in Norfolk, Virginia and spent most its time there. I made it as far north as Portsmouth, Rhode Island and as far south as San Juan, Puerto Rico with stops in between. I wanted to see more of the world, so I wrangled a transfer to the USS WALLER, a World War II destroyer on its way to the Mediterranean Sea. We even went into the Suez Canal and into the Persian Gulf with stops at many ports, one of which was Mitsiwa, Eretria (Ethiopia). After my tours of shore duty, I was assigned to the USS RATHBURNE another destroyer in Pearl Harbor. We made several Western Pacific Cruises from 1974 through 1977, with sometime in the Tonkin Gulf off the coast of Vietnam. During one of those cruises, we made a port call at Mombasa, Kenya in east Africa. Mitsiwa is almost directly north of Mombasa. I claim to have sailed around the entire world during my tours on Navy ships.
All this just to say what an incredible experience to see the oceans roar and waves crash upon the brow and feel the pitch and yaw of a 5,000-ton ship that’s like a twig on the great waters. And God made those waters in Genesis 1:10. I can’t tell you how many times I stood on the deck of one of those ships in awe of the seas! One of my favorite Psalms is Psalm 107:23-29. It says, “Some went down to the sea in ships, doing business on the great waters; they saw the deeds of the Lord, his wondrous works in the deep. For he commanded and raised the stormy wind, which lifted up the waves of the sea. They mounted up to heaven; they went down to the depths; their courage melted away in their evil plight; they reeled and staggered like drunken men and were at their wits’ end. Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. He made the storm be still, and the waves of the sea were hushed.”
In Genesis 1:10, God also made the dry land appear. He set boundaries for the sea that it could not cross. I don’t think anyone can appreciate “dry land” more than a sailor who has been through a storm in the South China Sea. Like the crews of the ship that Jonah was on, one is in fear for their lives at the onslaught of the sea and uncontrollable waves. But God says to the storms “be still” and they are. I often think of my life before Jesus became a part of it. I compare it to being at sea! I’m thrown every which way but loose by the waves of life and am afraid of just about everything. But Jesus, in Mark 4:39-40, “…rebuked the wind and said to the sea, ‘Peace! Be still!’ And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. He said to them, ‘Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?’” When I put my faith in Jesus he said to the storms in my life “peace! Be still!” and they ceased and there is a great calm!