The Journey

The great ship is set to sail. One of her passengers is The Bride.
Venture looses her ropes and begins her tack out of the harbor.
The wind fills her sails.

The Bride begins:
Dear Diary

This is a Spiritual Journey. My becoming one with him. I want to be perfect like He is. Jesus, my all. Father, bless my journey that I may behold His glory, that I may be one as you have so desired.

1st Day
Dear Diary

Filled to capacity with the love of God, I excitedly began packing my bags to meet my love, Jesus. This was so new to me; the peace and contentment of knowing that God was taking over my life. I could hardly sleep the last few nights. The day to leave for the dock had finally come. It was a beautiful day, warm and sunny.

The yellow taxi dropped me off at the dock. The air was fresh and comfortably breezy. Two pelicans, perching on the post, watched my ascent to the boat. A smile came over me.

Many others were getting ready to board. I wondered about their lives, if any felt as happy as I was. I was sure this would be a magnificent journey!

This was my day.

I was welcomed aboard and directed to my cabin. The ship was a beautifully renovated old sailing vessel with several cabins and a dining area. After settling in, I noticed that things were not as I had expected. The cabin was not as clean as I had anticipated. It needed a few basic repairs (the mirror was broken; and when I pulled to open the closet door, the hinge fell off). I was also missing my towels. The people in the next cabin were very loud. Things started to bother me little by little. I decided to complain to someone about everything. It wasn’t right! I could feel my temper rising and I said things I shouldn’t have.

I can’t believe I acted that way! The more I tried to calm down, the more things bothered me. Maybe if I read the Bible for a while, I will settle down. I sat down at the small desk in my cabin to read in the Song of Solomon:

He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love… My beloved spake, and said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.

I felt better.

Later, I began looking through the drawers to see what storage I had. In one drawer, I found a Bible, smaller than the one I brought onboard. It had a beautiful rose emblem on the cover. I opened to the inside cover. It belonged to a woman from Oregon. Inside was a folded paper, a map. It was a map of this same journey. She must have left it behind. I noticed in her Bible that the scriptures were arranged a little differently than in mine. No words were changed; it was still the King James Version. The verses were run together in paragraph form or in story form. It was easier to read and to understand. I thought, “This is beautiful!” I paged through it.

I love to read the Bible, but I have trouble understanding parts of it. Sometimes it’s as if God speaks in riddles. Why would it be so hard to understand? I’m sure it’s not supposed to be that way.

I laid down to take a short nap.  The excitement of the day had caught up with me.  Then a soft knock at my door. A maid came in with my linens. I told her that I had found a Bible and asked if she remembered the person who had this cabin before me.

She said, “Oh, yes! I’ll never forget her. Her name was Rose. She was a wonderful, kind woman. I grew to know and love her in a very short time. She was kinder than anyone I’ve ever met.”

I asked how I could return the Bible. She said she didn’t know. “But,” she continued, “Rose loved the Lord and would want someone to keep it, if it would bring that person closer to her God. That’s the way she was. I’m sure she would want you to have it.

I was tormented all my life until I met her. She told me that she knew what was plaguing me. She took my hand and prayed for me, binding the spirit that tormented me. I was so free; even the lights in this cabin were brighter, and I looked outside the porthole and even the sea was bluer. I was amazed.”

She must have been quite a woman of God! She had a lot of scriptures underlined and many notes. I would have learned a lot about my Beloved from her. One of the scriptures underlined was in the book of Ruth:

…and Orpah kissed her mother in law… And Ruth said… for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God.

Beside this scripture was written, “We must forsake all to follow his Spirit. This is what Ruth does by following Naomi.”

I know I could have learned a lot from her.

The Journey Continues in Part 2