January 23 - “No Hell today ...”

So day four and I was the queasy one.  Started off when I woke up at 4:30 and couldn’t get back to sleep.  The ship was really rocking by this time, and I don’t mean partying.  The weather was cloudy and the seas were really rough.  But all would be well soon, right?  After all we were rapidly approaching Grand Cayman ... our first stop.  In fact our first sighting of land in days.  Chris and i took pictures of it from our balcony before heading to the departure lounge.  We had just settled into our seats when the distinctive gong sounded over the intercom.  The captain had an announcement.  We anticipated one of his encouraging speeches about enjoying the day on shore.  Dry land finally, right?  Well ...

Not so much.  Remember that weather I mentioned?  Because of high winds and ten foot seas, ,the shuttle crafts that were to take us to Grand Cayman couldn’t make the trip.  We wouldn’t be getting off the ship in Grand Cayman after all.  And since that was where the tourist Mecca called Hell is located, I guess you could say we were saved from Hell ... again.  Oh, well.  When I posted our fate on Facebook our friend Lauren replied, “You don’t need to go to Hell anyway ... It’s really hot there.”  Well, OK.  I took a Dramamine and dozed for a while.  Meanwhile ... off to Aruba.

I felt better when I woke from my little catnap so we went on to breakfast.  Shared a table with some folks from Rockdale.  After that we ran into Jim and Pat again.  Sounds like being around them is kind of dangerous, though.  They told us that two different incidents have happened right in front of them where someone has fallen.  Hmm.  Are they going around tripping people?  You gotta watch out for those Galveston residents ...

We watched a game of giant Jenga and one of giant trivial pursuit (The crew seemed to be really stretching for things to do since we left Grand Cayman for an extra day at sea).  Then we had lunch at the Posh Restaurant with some more strangers.  One of them turned out to be the Mom of one of our neighbors.  We don’t actually know them, though.  They live in the next subdivision over from us.  It’s always fun to find some point of connection, though.

Next it was back to the room for a nap before hitting the dinner line with Randy and his crew again.  Those folks are lots of fun to hang out with.  Last night the Question Lady (She is a constant barrage of questions) asked me how I became a Christian.  So I obliged her through the salad course.  She wanted some follow-up about how Chris and I met, so I turned the conversation over to her for the most part so I could finish my now-wilting lettuce.  Hey, when I get to talking about Jesus and Chris, all else pales ...

After dinner we went to a presentation called “30,000 Years of Art.”  Yep.  Felt like we were back in a required culture class back in college.  I enjoyed it, though.  And we got a free print of a leopard to take home.

On the way back to the room we stopped to listen to the older guitarist sing some country music.  Several couple were dancing along on the floor in front of him.  And who should be among them but the couple we had breakfast with that morning.  Gee ... being on a boat since Sunday sure shrinks your world ...

Philippians 2:2 says, “then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose.”

Father, thanks for the new friends we have made.  And thanks for protecting us from foolish attempts to ford the treacherous waters.  Amen.