The North Sea

I officially despise the North Sea! I guess it is notorious for having rough waters and the voyage from Gothenburg, Sweden to Harlingen, Netherlands was no exception.  I will definitely be taking sea-sick pills for the voyage from the Netherlands to Scotland as we will be on the North Sea once again.  I was lucky enough to have my day off yesterday but sadly it was mostly spent on my bed in my cabin.  It is the only place where I didn't feel dizzy.  Anytime you got up to walk around, you couldn't walk straight and you sometimes had to hold onto something to keep yourself from losing your balance and falling over.  All through the morning and the afternoon, if you looked out the window all you could see was water and the very next second all you could see was sky.  Its a strange feeling to try to describe to someone who's never experienced it.  The best thing I can come up with is this....You know that silly silo ride you find at six flags, the one that spins you round and round till the floor drops out and you stay against the wall?  Well, it kind of feels like stepping off of one of those.  Your whole world is spinning and in constant motion and there's nothing you can do about it.  I have never been quite so thankful as I was this morning to be outside on one of the upper decks and to have the waters calm and to watch us pull into our port, feeling so much more like myself again.  LAND!!  One of my favorite things is to watch us pull into each new port and to see a little bit of the city waiting to be explored and thinking of all the people that we will have the chance to reach with the gospel. Its what makes the rough voyages worth it.  As I was laying in my bed yesterday, I spent a little bit of time reading thru the last few chapters of Acts, when Paul was out at sea and they got shipwrecked on Malta.  My experience made that whole story come a little more alive for me and I felt like I could understand his journey a little better.  The last 2 verses of the book read this, "Then Paul dwelt two whole years in his own rented house, and received all who came to him, preaching the kingdom of God and teaching the things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ with all confidence, no one forbidding him."  As I am dwelling on this ship(my home) for the next two years, I pray that we will receive all who come to us and that I will be able to preach God's truth and love with all confidence not letting anything hold me back!