Captain's Log #46
October, 2005

Of Technology
I was engulfed by the pitch black darkness at the stern of the boat. Without being conscious of it, my right middle finger pushed the top tiny button on the side of the satellite phone which increases volume and in the next seconds I listened to the sounds of the miracle of modern technology patch me through a small handheld phone upwards to the satellites in space, north and east 10,000 miles to land, back from land through fiber optic under sea cables to the main island of Fiji 162 nautical miles from where I am, then reversed from that other island back 10,000 miles through lines, up into space, across the heavens and satellites and back down to me... all in an instant.

Of Uncharted Waters
Cindy's digitalized voice comes through... the churches in Florida will simply never know what their gift of this piece of equipment meant to me in that moment. Eighteen hours and thirty two minutes since we had left our docks at midnight last night with this ministry team and the distant island of Rabi (pronounced Rambi) with it's unknown, uncharted, reef infested waters and the people on the other side, as our goal. Before this trip is over we will have been gone 2 hours short of a week and traveled with this power boat slightly over 349 nautical miles of waters that we have never before been in - much of it with charts that have the words 'unsurveyed' stamped across large sections. Using this satellite phone, before this trip is over we will figure out how to move 67 nautical miles on one engine to a place where we can get parts brought into, in order to get the other engine going, we will be able to communicate back and forth directly with Australia at a crucial time in taking the final steps towards the purchase of the 66 acre Fiji land deal and that development that has been hanging in the balance for 6 months. We will work long distance with technicians to resolve multiple equipment 'challenges' and life will go on and this pioneer work out here will go forward.

Of Kittens?
The word 'exhausted' seems a joke tonight... I remember 'exhausted'... vaguely, that was somewhere mid-morning if I remember right. I remember mid-morning... vaguely. With all the planning as God leads us, all the best of equipment, all the fanatical dotted i's and crossed t's and perpetual focus on safety and desire to be professional and desire to do things with excellence for God... with all of it, we do our very, very best to prepare... but then we figure that we actually also need to go. Knowing that only an idiot thinks he has it all under control - or that there are no risks involved. Today has been no different. With the exception that this is the furtherest we've ever gone. Today, in one day we've seen it all. Seas like glass, like a lily pond, seas that were raging and pitching and blowing and crashing over the bow taking every ounce of concentration and strength to maintain course and speed. Equipment that purred like a kitten, and equipment that died a violent death and just left me praying - reminding me why this was my last scheduled trip with these engines that we have run very hard for almost 3 years - the new ones somewhere on their way in from Australia.

Of Knees & Prayer Partners
There are ten of us on this trip and some of the other nine Fijian, Rotuman, Indo-Fijian and Rabi men that are with me have never been to sea before today, and tonight in the darkness at anchor I realize that this has been a baptism of fire for their first ocean voyage. They are not talking. They are still sitting in silence on the deck with their head in their hands and a bucket next to them. I am thankful that, unlike them, as I have dealt with things, I have not been sick for the last 18 and 1/2 eternal hours. There is a line out of the song 'My Anchor Holds' that I have not been able to get out of my mind for much of today - it first came to me not long before we lost the port engine this afternoon. We were in the Koro sea and had slowed to bare steerage way in fairly rough ocean conditions to transfer petrol from the 200 liter drums to the tanks. Somewhere in the midst of that fun little exercise, as the boat suddenly moves violently, with my hands full, unable to steady myself... I went down on my knees. As I go down I almost audibly hear the song's words... "I fall on my knees as I face the raging seas", and throughout today those words have not left me. For me, for today the storm has been at times a real physical storm and it has kept me at least in my spirit, "on my knees"! "Your daughter has really been praying for you throughout today!" It's Cindy's voice on the satellite phone. "...and she has been fasting for 36 hours as she prays for you!"... this father is having trouble talking on this fancy satellite phone now - who could ever hope for something more precious than a 14 year old daughter that is fasting and praying for your safety and for God's purpose in what you are doing on a day like today??

Of Kingdoms
The people of Rabi are unique in all the world. Out of the violence and turmoil of World War II, these people of just a few thousand, were moved from a very long ways away, here to this outlying Fijian island. Also, God, 2000 years ago, died for each of these Rabi people. That makes these people more precious than gold and diamonds. Our ministry team is treated as royalty with village after village hosting them with food and hospitality and a willingness to be an eager audience to these who come in the name of the Lord. The team is overwhelmed. God is so clearly at work and using them. They are humbled by the hospitality of these people who seem so innocently protected from much that the world throws at most people. Meeting after meeting is filled with an awareness that God is working as people respond. Pray for our Fiji District Ministry Team and their vision for Rabi! Pray for Nazarene Maritime Ministries and our vision to partner with the national church here, as a catalyst in helping them towards the fulfillment of God's vision for them into these islands of the South Pacific.

Harmon

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