Beach Haven

When I served as a full-time missionary in southern Spain in 1982 and 1983 the singing group Mocedades was in the waning part of their career, but still really popular. Among their songs was one that touched me back then, and still does. It is called “Dime Señor”. It means, ‘tell me Lord’. Here are the words in Spanish and English.

Sola en el puerto de la verdad,
Veo mi vida meciéndose en el mar.
Es una barca que no viene ni va.
Mis esperanzas son velas sin hinchar.
No tengo playa donde atracar.
No tengo amarras, a nadie tengo ya.
A la deriva está mi barca en el mar.
A la deriva mi vida flota ya.
Dime Señor ¿a quién tengo que esperar?
¿Con qué viento, con qué rumbo debo navegar?
Dime Señor, pescador del más allá,
¿Habrá un puerto donde pueda anclar?
Sola en el puerto de la verdad,
Dos flores blancas se mecen en el mar.
Son dos amores que no supe alcanzar.
Son dos entregas y a cambio soledad.
Dime Señor ¿a quién tengo que esperar?
¿Con qué viento, con qué rumbo debo navegar?
Dime Señor, pescador del más allá,
¿Habrá un puerto dónde pueda anclar?

Alone in the port of truth,
I see my life swaying in the sea.
It is a boat that neither comes nor goes.
My hopes are deflated sails.
I don’t have a beach to attract me.
I don’t have ties, I have nobody now.
Adrift is my boat in the sea.
Adrift my life floats now.
Tell me Lord, who do I have to hope for?
With which wind, with which course should I steer?
Tell me Lord, fisherman of the great beyond,
Will there be a port where I can anchor?
Alone in the port of truth,
Two white flowers sway in the sea.
They are two loves I learned to reach for.
They are two gifts, and in exchange is loneliness.
Tell me Lord, who do I have to hope for?
With which wind, with which course should I steer?
Tell me Lord, fisherman of the great beyond,
Will there be a port where I can anchor?
 
You can read these sentiments in several ways. For me, I see them as reflecting the thoughts of someone who wonders about God’s will for them. They are asking where they can find truth among so many conflicting ideas. They pursued at least two former paths and neither panned out. So now they feel alone.
 
The concept of anchoring came home to me over the summer. My grandson Aiden, a family friend and I moved our sailboat from Solomons Island, MD to Norfolk, VA over the summer last year. We might have done it quickly, but we chose to make stops along the way. In the end we spent four days and three nights on the trip before reaching the Bay Point Marina where the boat now resides. Two of those nights we stopped too late to take up residence in a transient marina slip. Instead, we simply searched for reasonable anchorages along the way.
 
The first of these anchorages was not very far south of the outlet of the Patuxent River where we began the journey. The day was windy, and the winds were straight off the bow. That meant we had to tack (zig-zag) as we went. This added distance traveled, but shortened distance traveled in our desired direction. After sailing through a rather heavy squall (storm) we rounded Point No Point Lighthouse on the west shore and anchored just outside Saint Mary’s at the mouth of Saint Jerome Creek. Our boat has some specific dimensions. It is just under 30 feet long, weighs 7000 pounds, and has a mast height of 41 feet. In the case of anchorage, a more important specification is the draft, or depth of the keel. That’s 5-1/2 feet. Given the rise and fall of tides, we generally won’t anchor in water less than 10 feet deep, but if it is too deep then we can be short on anchor chain. That meant inside the bay at the creek outlet was off limits to us because it was too shallow. Outside the bay offered little protection from wind and waves, so having a strong anchorage was very important if we were to get any sleep that night. Ideal anchorage consists of a soft, muddy bottom with limited rocks or plants. Thankfully, that’s exactly what we found in this location. All night the wind blew, and the waves made things uncomfortable. Both shifted from the south to the east which meant that if our anchor lost hold, we would drift into the shallows and be grounded. Thankfully this didn’t happen.

The other anchorage was two nights later. We entered Mobjack Bay late so none of the marinas were open. We picked another good anchorage point on the north side of the bay. Just like the previous anchorage, it was windy at night, but the waves were less bothersome than in the previous anchorage. Mobjack Bay runs from northwest to southeast. It would have been a comfortable place had the winds been from any of the cardinal points. However, the winds were from the southeast meaning they blew unabated from the Chesapeake into Mobjack. Thankfully, as the night passed, so did the winds and we slept comfortably.
 
In both cases, we found the best sort of depth and bottom type. We also had the sort of equipment (anchor and chain) that allowed for safe nights even if they were a bit bouncy at times. In the Mocedades song, they ask if there is safe anchorage. Where do we place our anchor? The gospel of Jesus Christ is where I choose to anchor. I put my anchor, my faith, in the best place, in my personal ‘port of truth’ or perhaps better stated ‘truth seeking’. When the winds blow and the waves rise, it is Jesus Christ who holds me in place, and when needed, He can calm the wind and waves that beat on me in life. In His gospel I find clarity and truth. All other sources I find helpful but wanting.

In my Navy days, I made shipboard passage across the Pacific Ocean five times. When planning a route, we used two different kinds of maps. The first is called a gnomonic projection. Of the two types, it more closely represents the spherical in 2D. The problem is it also covers large swaths of the globe, not much good for day-to-day navigation. We would draw a straight line on this projection, say from San Diego to Honolulu. Then we would transpose some way points to a series of Mercator projections. This sort of map covers smaller parts of the ocean and is better suited for short daily navigation. A GPS uses Mercator projections. Here is the problem. A straight line on a 3D surface like a globe is not straight on a flat surface. As I said, gnomonic maps are a closer approximation of a sphere. A straight line on this map becomes a curved line on a Mercator version. It turns out the shortest distance between two points on a sphere is a curved line, not a straight one. In order to avoid keeping the ship in a constant turn, points are transferred from one map to the other at predetermined intervals. The ship turns a little at each of these waypoints allowing it to keep to the overall path.

While attending the temple recently, I noticed three words connected with the covenants described. These words are ‘laws, rites, and ordinances’. The scriptures remind us that ‘straight is the gate and narrow the way’ that leads to eternal life. The gate is the ordinance of baptism and represents a form of waypoint on our path. From the April 2024 talk "Put Ye on the Lord Jesus Christ" by Sister J. Annette Dennis, “Through a covenant relationship with God, our own lives can become a living symbol of our commitment to and deep love for our Father in Heaven, … and our desire to progress and eventually become like our Savior, being prepared to one day enter Their presence.” From the April 2024 talk "God’s Intent is to Bring You Home" by Elder Patrick Kearon, “What do God’s messengers, His prophets, call this plan in Restoration scripture? They call it the plan of redemption, the plan of mercy, the great plan of happiness, and the plan of salvation, which is unto all, ‘through the blood of mine Only Begotten’.”

First, let’s look at laws. There are certainly laws that we think of as codified such as traffic or tax laws. God’s laws are the commandments. For me, this is a narrow version of what laws are. For example, there are physical laws that existed long before we humans started trying to understand them and write them down. Gravity is a force, sometimes called a law. Because of it, for a long time we thought we could not fly. Eventually we learned there are three other forces along with gravity that are part of the laws of aerodynamics, and then we could fly. Those laws or forces (gravity, drag, thrust, lift) were always there, unwritten, yet true. By the way, when it comes to gravity, we still don’t know what it is. We can describe its effects, but we still use both Newton’s ideas of gravity as a pulling force and Einstein’s ideas that it is a pushing force. We use both because sometimes Newtonian math works better than Einsteinian or vice versa, but neither fully describes gravity. Despite the fact that we haven’t fully documented the law of gravity, yet it exists. For me, a law is less a set of written rules. It is more a way of life, a path. D&C 88:25 "And again, verily I say unto you, the earth abideth the law of a celestial kingdom, for it filleth the measure of its creation, and transgresseth not the law."

Rites are a subset of the law we choose to live. These are physical things we do alone or together that act as waypoints along our path, our law. They could be traditions we do like birthday celebrations or holidays. Other examples are holding family home evening, youth activities, ministering, serving a mission, our callings, or repentance. For me, not all rites are commandments, but all commandments are rites. If we choose rites that are not waypoints on the path to heaven then we eventually arrive somewhere else.

Finally, ordinances are a subset of rites. In the case of ordinances, they are defined and require authority. These are things we can’t do for ourselves, but someone else performs for us, or we for someone else. Examples include baptism, confirmation, receiving the priesthood, and temple ceremonies. I have come to think that the Atonement was also an ordinance. It was performed only once by one person who had authority on behalf of everyone. Christ did not need the atonement for his sin since He had no sin. He was not acting for himself. He did resurrect for himself, then gave that power to the rest of us.

Navigating along the covenant path, following a law or way of life, is like the straight line on the gnomonic projection. Rites and ordinances are like waypoints we do day-to-day like those documented on a Mercator map. What’s our next waypoint, our next rite or ordinance? Is it attending meetings, going to activities, partaking of the Sacrament, or attending the temple for ourselves or our ancestors? President Nelson has reminded us that the covenant path includes daily repentance. We also know we should include daily prayer and scripture study as waypoints as well. These routine rites keep us on the path. Again from the talk by Elder Kearon, “Fundamentally implicit in all of His teachings to live on a higher plane of moral conduct is a call to personal progression, to transformative faith in Christ, to a mighty change of heart.” Let us include more daily waypoints to stay closer to the path of personal progression.

This past June I had a unique experience. Our sailboat has been at the Harbor Island Marina in Solomon’s Island, MD. We needed to move the boat to Bay Point Marina, in Norfolk, VA, it’s new home. It’s too big for a regular tailer we can pull, and paying a mover to do it is pricey. The best answer was to just sail the boat to its new home. So that’s what happened. I was joined by our grandson Aiden. He is 14 years old. We were also accompanied by Kerry Riley, a family friend of ours from VA. We planned to take our time. In the end we spent 4 days on the water. The first day we faced constant headwinds, so we had to do something called beating, where you zig-zag (tack) about 30 degrees either side of upwind. That meant we spent as much time moving east-west as we did south, our intended direction. In the end we probably sailed about 40 miles to move 20 miles south.

The last part of the trip on that first day brought a rather blustery squall. Despite the daylight, the rain was heavy, and the clouds were thick making visibility rather low. The winds also brought up the sea-state to about 2-foot swells. We were approaching the mouth of Saint Jerome Creek where there is a bit of a point giving partial shelter from the south winds. The lighthouse there is called “Point No-Point Lighthouse”.  The name will give you an idea of the minimal protection of the point. What was inspiring to me is that we got near the lighthouse just as the worst of the storm hit. Rather than approaching the shore for an anchorage during the storm we decided to use the lighthouse. We shifted from sail to motor and circled near the lighthouse. In a world where everything around us was all chaos, the lighthouse was both visible and stationary. Using the GPS and paper charts, we could tell exactly where we were relative to the lighthouse. The storm eventually passed by, and we could see the shore again. This allowed us to safely move close to shore, drop our anchor, and stop for the night. 

There are all sorts of lessons that can be taken from this little story. Here are just a few. The lighthouse gave us something visible and fixed from which we could confidently position ourselves. Like a lighthouse, the Savior is 'the light' and 'the rock'. He encourages us to likewise be ‘steadfast and immovable’. When trying to figure out where to be in life, we can have confidence in Him. In life, storms come and go. It can be hard to see, and like waves and winds, life-stability may be hard to find. Although we still had to ride out the storm, having the stable lighthouse lowered the stress of our little band of three sailors. We didn’t worry about grounding or being unsure of where we were. We also knew that once the storm passed, we could safely navigate to anchorage. Jesus Christ offers similar confidence when trials come our way. 

Memorial Day is when we remember those who died in the service of our country. This year, Michelle and I decided to use the three-day weekend to go sailing. We sailed on our boat from Solomons Island, MD to St. Michaels, MD, a distance of around 50 miles or so each way.

On the way there we had heavier than expected wind and swells. To make it more challenging we had to sail straight down wind. Contrary to what the uninitiated might think, straight down wind (referred to as running) is actually the most difficult point of sail. We got to the anchorage after a long day of sailing, dropped the hook, and had a nice dinner. About dark the winds picked up again and the water was choppy, even in the protected anchorage. About the time we were thinking of going to bed we noticed the anchor was not holding against the wind and waves. We were drifting out into the open waters of Eastern Bay. Michelle took over the helm and motor. I pulled up the anchor. In the dark we went through the process of anchoring all over again. By the time the work was done, and we sat at anchor long enough to have confidence in the hold, it was into the early hours of the morning. Thankfully the rest of that night was uneventful.

The next day was relaxing. We rode the water taxi into town for an enjoyable time together visiting the museum and food venues St. Michaels has to offer. Another water taxi ride back out to our boat finished the visit. Next, we pulled up anchor again. This time to motor into the harbor marina in order to refill our fuel tank in case the wind would not cooperate back to Solomons. Once again we went back out of the harbor and anchored for the third time in two days.

Unfortunately the peace did not last. Around 11pm that evening as we were comfortably dozing I was awoken to a noise I didn’t recognize. Looking everything over inside and out there seemed to be nothing wrong. I laid back down. Michelle was now awake too. Suddenly the calmness of the night changed to very blustery winds. A storm front had clearly arrived. We got up, looked at our relative position to the houses on the shore and other boats. We also watched our position on the GPS system. Thankfully the anchor was holding this time. We never did figure out what the original noise was that woke me up, but because we were awake when the storm blew in we were able to watch over our position. We didn’t hear that sound after the storm was over.

Despite our anchor holding we noticed another boat that was anchored up wind of us was slowly getting closer to us in the dark. The slowness of the movement meant the anchor was not loose, but was dragging. The boat showed only its anchor light, and it seemed like everyone on board was asleep. When it moved to a position alongside us it was close enough that I could have thrown a rock at it and hit it. Worried, we blew our horn several times until someone onboard stumbled to the open and asked if we were honking at them. We pointed out they were dragging anchor. For the next half-hour we watched them moving around in the dark, but ultimately they took no action to change the situation. They eventually drifted a little behind us. It seemed less likely they might bump into us, but we worried our respective anchors might entangle. The winds calmed and the night grew late again so we left them to their decision to take no action. We went to sleep.

We got up early the next morning to get a good start back. The dragging boat had continued to drag and was now further behind us. Luckily for them they were not grounded or close to another boat. Our trip home had the opposite weather than the first leg. The wind calmed a few short hours into the sail and we had to motor much of the trip home.

The experience caused me to think about the idea of watchfulness. On that first night, had we just gone to sleep we would likely have been woken up to the sounds of our boat grounding on the other side of the bay, or worse. On the second night, we were diligent in case a change was needed. Our neighbors were not. Even when it was clear they had moved more than 100 yards in the dark, they chose to take no action. I ask myself, do I take diligent action to ensure I stay anchored in truth? Do I warn others when I see them adrift and moving away from safety? If I drift, am I willing to do the work to reset my gospel anchor, or like those temporary neighbors we had in the anchorage, am I more likely to doze and hope for the best?

One other learning point. I have been a long time afloat before, but Michelle had never been more than on a day sail. She was worried when we wrestled with bad weather and with a loose anchorage. On our way home after mooring back at our home marina, she mentioned to me that having the difficulty instead of an easy sailing day was a good thing for her. She was able to see how we could actually handle the difficult situation even in bad weather and the dark of night. She said she feels more confident for potential future trips. Similarly, when we face life trials and learn to lean on Heavenly Father, we gain confidence (faith) in Him and our assurances from Him.
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