Do you have an anchor in your life?

All photos courtesy of Unsplash 

Do you have an anchor in your life? 

Today, we are familiar with logos, icons, and symbols. They are a simple way of conveying a message. For example, most of us know what the symbol for Wi-Fi is, and when we see a red cross, we know that there is help available for an emergency. One of the early symbols of Christianity was an anchor. For Christians, Christ is the unfailing hope of all who believe in him. Pictured on the epitaphs of first-, second-, and third-century believers, it symbolized the hope they had for this life and the next, and so the symbol of the anchor was adopted as the symbol of hope. The anchor was also regarded in ancient times as a symbol of safety. In the Bible, the gospel message teaches us how we can be ‘safe’ or ‘saved’. 

Anstruther Lifeboat Station

 

At Anstruther in Fife, a new lifeboat station is being built with a new slipway to facilitate launching. Seven lifeboats have been stationed there since 1865, the latest being the Kingdom of Fife from 1991 to 2024. It was a Mersey class boat, but reaching the end of its operational life, it has been replaced by a Shannon class vessel, the beautiful, 13-47 Robert and Catherine Steen which arrived just over a year ago. It is superior in many ways, upgraded throughout and with a top speed of 25 knots. 

However, it is too big to fit inside the existing boathouse. So, at a cost of around £100,000, this new facility will be an all-round improvement for the benefit of the volunteer crew and for accommodating and launching the lifeboat to respond to emergency calls for help at sea.

“Saving lives at sea” has become a familiar slogan for the RNLI, and indeed that is its mission. Since its foundation in 1824 its crews have saved ​over 140,000 lives, some in the most difficult and dangerous conditions. Probably very few of us have had to call on them, but those who have, and have been rescued, are overwhelmingly grateful.

Take heed all ye who pass by

 

Just off the south-west coast of the island of Jersey sits a lighthouse called La Corbière. One of its fascinating features is that there is a path linking the lighthouse to the coast, which can only be used at low tide. When the sea rises, the path is completely covered, leaving the lighthouse inaccessible and isolated in the sea.

Visitors to La Corbière will notice that at the start of the path out to the lighthouse there is a sign, which reads:

IN MEMORY OF

PETER EDWIN LARBALESTIER

ASSISTANT KEEPER AT CORBIÈRE LIGHTHOUSE.

WHO, ON 28TH MAY 1946 GAVE HIS LIFE

IN ATTEMPTING TO RESCUE A VISITOR

CUT OFF BY THE INCOMING TIDE.

TAKE HEED ALL YE WHO PASS BY.

This sign challenges the reader to “take heed” of two things: first, take heed of the danger of being cut off by the rising tide, and second, take heed of the honourable man who died to save a stranger. Likewise, the gospel message requires a twofold taking heed by us: of the danger that we are in, and of the blessed Man Who died to save us from it.

Finding direction in life

Photos courtesy of Unsplash 

The River Severn rises in the mountains of Wales, passing by the Powys towns of Newtown, Welshpool and over the border into England. Meandering through Shrewsbury and on to Stourport, Worcester and Gloucester. Here there are inland docks with the commencement of the canal to Sharpness, with its access to the Severn Estuary and the Bristol Channel. The river itself flows on to open out into its famous estuary. It has seen times of substantial waterborne cargoes.

Before the days of steam tugs, hundreds of vessels called trows, either propelled by sail or pulled by horses and men, carried cargoes up to Pool Quay near Welshpool. It was not easy as the river is notorious for being shallow. Crews had to rely upon spring tides  and flood water to keep going. 

#Wick Harbour

Wick Harbour 

The sea and the boats remind me of these verses in the Psalms. Many a fisherman or seaman has faced danger and death and as a result has come to trust in the living God. Life is short when you are faced with the uncertainty of life. 

Many of us live a closeted life, detached from the reality of our mortality. We live for the moment and ignore reality.

Life is short

Death is sure

Sin is the cause

Christ is the cure

May God bless you through His word today,

Stephen 

Psalms 107:23-31

They that go down to the sea in ships,

that do business in great waters;

These see the works of the Lord,

and his wonders in the deep.

For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind,

which lifteth up the waves thereof.

They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths:

their soul is melted because of trouble.

They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man,

and are at their wits' end.

Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble,

and he bringeth them out of their distresses.

He maketh the storm a calm,

so that the waves thereof are still.

Then are they glad because they be quiet;

so he bringeth them unto their desired haven.

Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!

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