November 5, 2023

Interesting Sunday at sea.  Before we left our stateroom to go to breakfast there was an emergency call: “Alpha, alpha, alpha.”  That is the signal to the crew to get ready for action.  The call sent the team to a stateroom on Deck 7 for a medical emergency.  Then after we came back to the room from supper there was another call and this was by an elevator on Deck 8.  We have prayed for the folks involved, because we are in the middle of the ocean and no land is close enough for a helicopter to come.  Serious enough situation and the captain would change course towards land so a helicopter could come and we’ve been on board when that has happened.

My talk today was at 10:30 so we took breakfast in the Wind Jammer instead of room service, and after changing clothes and rehearsing one more time, we went to the theater where the interdenominational service was still in progress.  It was to have concluded at 10:15, but they were having Church.  Led by the Catholic priest who does the daily masses, he was laying on hands, there was praise singing, and speaking in tongues.  I’ve never witnessed that at sea, and it was a powerful service.  When the singer stopped I went quietly to the front row and sat while the service concluded.  I actually got on stage about 10 minutes late, but as Jennifer says, “It was all good.”

And speaking of church, in 14 days, Sunday, November 19, 264 churches seeking disaffiliation from the United Methodist Church are praying that the journey to independence will be complete.  A total of 19,981 votes were cast in those 264, and the average percentage passage rate was 87%.  Every successful church achieved the supermajority 2/3 requirement.  In any election (presidential, senatorial, gubernatorial, etc.) those results would be considered a landslide.  These results beg the question how anyone can justify voting against the ratification of any of these churches.  The vote will be taken on the 18th. 

To wrap up for tonight, I sent a picture of my appetizer last night to Luke and Matt (we exchange food photos, no idea why, it’s just something we do).  I labeled the photos “escargot,” but I had forgotten to take the picture before I consumed the snails, so all that was left was the rich garlic butter covering the plate.  Luke replied, “It looks more like escargone.”

See yinz tomorrey.

TTFN