In response to my last post about the car ferry, an older gentleman sent this response. Read on to learn the Spiritual connection of the two posts. I call these types of events, "divine appointments."
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From the Guest Blogger:
"It was a fall day and my Mother and I were heading north for a relaxing weekend. We left the city at noon, and soon decided to break away from interstate traffic and take the car ferry river crossing instead.
We found ourselves peacefully alone as we left the interstate, and the rolling wooded bluffs were beautifully dressed in brilliant yellows and reds of autumn. All of a sudden our privacy was invaded by one, and then two-then six cars bumper to bumper headed in the opposite direction. We were about five miles from the Ferry and I guessed that these cars must have just left it from the dock on our side of the river. That meant it would leave without us because of where we were.
In past visits to use the Ferry it seemed that I always arrived at the landing just as it was leaving, or it was on the far shore. I could not really remember being able to just drive up to the ramp and board the Ferry without waiting.
Then I remembered I had heard someone say the Ferry was equipped with a C.B. So I reached for my C.B. mike and called out "Break 19 for the Ferry Captain, I'm on the south bank five miles out, do you have a copy?" A voice came back, "Yes I do, what are you driving?!' "A Nova with a small utility trailer" I answered.
The voice came back "Yes I have room, where are you now, what's your 20?" I responded, "I am on top of the bluff and I can see the wayside and the drive to the dock."
Again the voice came back, "We have room for you, we are waiting, come right on aboard."
We turned the corner and drove onto the boat landing road. There was the Ferry fully loaded, except for one spot on the left side. Without hesitation I drove up the ramp and onto the Ferry. I could see the Captain, the person who had been only a friendly, responding and an encouraging voice just minutes before, smiling down on me from his control room. I gave him a wave and, as I stopped my car and turned off the ignition, the gate of the Ferry closed behind me, and we were on our way.
It was a most pleasurable ride across the big river. I watched the roll of the waves, and scanned the colorful wooded shorelines. Happy children were excitedly running about the deck as smiling parents relaxed and watched in perfect peace. It was like the world had come to a full stop and we were in a place all our own away from the pressures and rush of every day life. I thought, "Perhaps heaven might be much like this." And not too many miles away the interstate traffic was flying away at it 55 MPH plus clip.
As I leaned on the rail, my Christian background caused me to reflect a bit deeper into this beautiful moment. In a sense, my callout on the C.B. to the Ferry Boat Captain was not much different than a callout to God. I had been in this same situation before, arriving at the dock just as the Ferry was leaving the shoreline.
Unfortunately, I arrived without the proper equipment or preparation to call out to be taken along…and I had been left behind.
I could not see the Ferry this time, yet I had the faith it was out there somewhere and close by. I was truly blind, yet I could see. There was an opening for me, yet it was for me to take advantage of it. I decided to ask, and I received. I was called aboard because I believed and let it be known that I wanted to be taken along. Then, I was able to witness the beauty around me, and the happiness of those that were already aboard. We were no longer strangers; we were friends on a friendly sea.
And it all happened because my Mother and I choose to leave the fast lane, the main stream of life. We had decided to turn off, stop, and smell the roses along the way:
Praise ye the way of the Lord.
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Guest Blogger ? My Dad, writing 30 years ago about his own encounter at the car ferry, traveling with my Grandma, now passed on to Jesus. Seems it's a message that God doesn't mind telling more than once...
What do you believe?
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