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A Rendezvous with A Soul Catcher! By Mate Jason Silks
Many of you probably know who Captain Hawk is (normally we just call him ‘The Captain’). But for those who don’t, The Captain sails all around the world bringing the Good News of Jesus Christ to all who would receive Him. His adventures have led him into many of the darkest and most dangerous places to be found on this earth; but the adventurer that he is, The Captain has never turned back from an opportunity to save another lost soul.
Of course, not all journeys are like those that you read about in books. In real life a sailor’s days can sometimes become very routine. In fact there are many days on the seas where one might not find any adventure at all. It was just such a day as this when the Captain walked up to Mate Barton and Mate Crox. Mates normally had the most boring jobs on a ship. And so during such boring times as the last few weeks at sea had been, many Mates had to come up with new ways to pass the time. While most of the Men had chosen to take an extra afternoon nap, Mates Barton and Crox had whittled wooden swords out of driftwood and were spending their free time ‘mock’ fighting one another. Though neither felt as though they were doing anything wrong, they felt nervous as The Captain approached them, fearing how he would react to their new hobby.
“Men.” said The Captain in a stern voice.
“Yes sir!” came the Mates response.
“I have noticed you men have taken up a new hobby during the past few weeks.” As The Captain said this he began to pace slowly in front of the men. All the time he looked them in their eyes. His face was kind yet firm and was both solemn and warm at the same time.
“Y..you see Captain…” Mate Crox began. He never finished his statement because The Captain smiled and held up his hand. “It’s not that I think you men have done anything wrong you see. It’s just that I’ve been quite impressed in how far you’ve come along in your mastery of a cutlass in such a short time. It’s good to have men on board to defend the ship should we ever come under attack! Since you men seem to enjoy a good sparring match I felt it only fitting to ask you both if you would become guardsmen of the ship. What do you think?” The Captain smiled such a hearty smile as he waited for their answer.
“I would be honored Captain.” Said Mate Barton.
“Nothing would make me more happy.” Replied Mate Crox.
“Very well. You will find your swords below deck. I expected you might be interested, so I took the liberty of having them placed there for you each earlier today.” The Captain smiled as he turned to walk away, but suddenly turned back and with a much more solemn tone added. “You men must understand that we will be counting on you to defend us if we are attacked. I know you’ve been diligent with your wooden swords, but the sword that I have given you is not like the swords you have used in the past. To master this sword you must practice with it every day so you will be ready when the enemy attacks. If you do not practice then I cannot guarantee you will win the fight, no matter how powerful this sword may be.”
“Yes Sir” said Mate Barton.
“We understand Captain”said Mate Crox.
“Good, have fun boys and pray the weather continues to be as it has. Sun overhead, wind in our sails, it’s a beautiful day at sea, Praise God!” And with that the Captain returned to his cabin.
I don’t know if you remember the last time that you were given something that you really wanted. I remember many Christmas mornings unwrapping the gifts and finding that one thing that you had waited for all year. Such excitement is in the air and you feel as though you’ll never stop playing with the new toy you’ve just received. That was much how the Mates felt as they pulled their swords from their chests. Now they would get to try their skill with a real cutlass. A mix of anxious excitement and joyous revelry filled the air as the first few clangs were heard about the ship as the Mates tried out their new gear. Many of the other Mates were awakened from their naps to what they thought were the sounds of an attack. The blades glistened as they whistled through the air and two happy Mates danced back and forth on the deck of the ship slashing this way and that. Sunset came and the ship sailed ever closer it’s destination, and yet still the men continued their practice late into the night.
***
“Pull the line!” Shouted a Mate.
“Bring down the sails!” roared another. It had been a calm week at sea, but all at once (as often happens at sea) a storm came up threatening to capsize the ship. Sailors darted back and forth on the deck of the ship each doing their part to keep her afloat. Many hours later the rain-soaked sailors each slowly sunk into their bunks. Each was weary from the days battle with the storm and anxious to get to bed.
“Crox… Hey Crox, are you in here?”
“Barton, is that you?”
“Yes, it’s awfully dark and I can’t see well. Are you in your bunk?”
“Yes, I’ve just gotten comfortable too, so please say what you have to say quickly so I can get to sleep.”
“Well, it’s just that we always practice at least a little every day. The Captain had said we should try to keep up with it as much as possible. I know you’re tired, and I am too, but I was thinking at least a couple of minutes wouldn’t hurt…”
Crox laughed. “You’ve got to be joking. After the day I’ve had, look I’m going to sleep…”
“It’s just that…”
“Enough!” Crox snapped. He wasn’t a nasty person normally, but tonight he was tired and had no desire to be lured out of bed to go ‘trouncing about’ on deck flashing swords with Barton. At least that was how he thought of it at the moment because he was so tired.
“Alright… well… I’ll be up on deck… if you should decide to join me…”
“I won’t.”
“Goodnight then.”
Almost a faint whisper above the noise of the waves, the wind was accompanied by the swift swooshing sound a sword makes as it is swung in the air. A dark silhouette was framed against the pale night sky. It’s motions were more slow tonight than they had been on days before. But still Barton carried on with his practice. He knew everyone was counting on him.
***
“But it’s been two days now since we’ve practiced together. I’m afraid you might get rusty.”
“Me? Rusty?! You must be joking Barton. Don’t you remember how The Captain had said he was impressed with our skills? Why, he wouldn’t have even given us these swords unless he thought we could do the job.”
“You’re getting it all out of sorts.” Barton retorted. “The Captain said we needed to practice so that we would be ready. Over the last few months I’ve practiced every day, while you’ve barely picked up your sword at all.”
Barton was, of course, speaking (arguing is more like it) with Crox. Ever since the storm at sea it seemed as though Crox had lost his desire to practice. More and more frequently Barton had found himself staying up late on his own. At first it had just seemed as though Crox were tired, but as the weeks progressed Crox began coming up with excuses not to practice. Each one being more pathetic than the last.
Crox didn’t mean to blow off practicing. But in his mind it really didn’t seem to be doing any good. As far as he could tell, his swordsmanship was pretty good. He knew how to use a sword, he had practiced in the past, why did he need to practice now?
Barton knew The Captain would not have told them to practice unless it was important so he urged his friend as urgently as he knew how. “Look Crox, The Captain said we are to practice, so if you don’t then that’s the same as disobeying a Captain’s order.”
“Look, get off my back.” Crox was red in the face now. He hated it when people tried to force him to do something he didn’t want to do. “I’ll practice when I’m ready. Besides, The Captain said we should practice, but he never said we had to practice together.”
There was something in the way Crox said together that made Barton’s heart sink. Crox saw the hurt look in Barton’s eyes, but his pride wouldn’t let him reach out to his friend to make it right. As Barton walked away Crox felt in his heart that he had made a mistake. Breathing in deep and letting out a long sigh, Crox returned to his daily work.
***
There’s a phrase you may have heard your parents say, “there’s always a calm right before the storm”. This was true in sailing and is often too true in life as well. The last few days at sea had been calm and many of the Mates had gotten back into the habit of taking their afternoon naps. Still, as dusk settled on the seas about the ship, all the sailors save the night watchmen clambered into their bunks to enjoy a good night’s sleep.
“Barton… Crox…” came a voice no louder than a whisper. “Barton… Crox… I need you…” The voice was urgent. “Barton.. Crox..” said the voice a little louder.
“Yes, I’m here… are you the night watch.”
“Yes, Barton?”
“Yeah.”
“Crox are you awake?”
“Uh…hu….” Came Crox’s weak groggy voice.
“Hurry up and come on deck. And bring your swords… I have a feeling you might need them tonight….”
As Barton and Crox came up from below deck they looked about the night sky. It was clear and both moon and stars shone brightly overhead making everything on deck visible in the twilight. The cold air bit at their faces as the first blast of sea breeze blew across the deck. The night watchman stood just a few feet in front of where the door to the cabins below opened up to the deck.
Turning to face the men the night watchman put a finger to his mouth to signal the men should keep quiet. Motioning with his hand he drew both men very close and began to speak in a whisper, “Earlier in the night a thick fog had set it. I thought I heard the sound of rowing, very faint, but rowing all the same. Each time I went to look I couldn’t see anything besides the fog so I thought it was just my imagination. That was until the fog began to lift and I saw that…” As he said ‘that’ the night watchman pointed off the starboard side of the ship. Both Barton and Crox felt their knees begin to tremble as they saw what the watchman was pointing at… a pirates ship!
“We have to wake everyone up…” Said Barton.
“The problem is” replied the watchman “that we don’t know if they’ve spotted us yet or not. If we wake everyone up, someone will light a lamp before we have a chance to explain what’s going on, and that would draw them down upon us for sure.”
“But you thought you heard rowing.” Stammered Crox, who was beginning to feel very afraid.
“I thought that, but there’s just no way to be sure what I heard without looking about the whole ship. Which is why I called you both up here… just in case…”
“Well then, let’s get started.” Said Barton.
Crox was doing his best to assure himself the pirates hadn’t seen them so he said, “Yeah, I bet no pirates would even want to board a ship…” He was going to say “a ship like ours” but he never got the words out. Even as the men had spoken, pirates were already moving about the deck eyeing the men. Seeing the men were about to move about the ship, the pirates sprung their trap.
All at once a loud “Aaarrrgggg!!!!” was heard as at least twenty pirates came out of hiding and surrounded Barton, Crox and the night watchman.
“To arms!” Shouted Barton and he and Crox drew their swords together and rushed toward the pirates. The deck was soon full of fighting and chaos. As the Mates below woke up and came up on deck they were quickly captured and tied up by pirates who were not involved in the fighting. (not that they were bad fighters you see, but they had expected the shouting and sword clashes were just Barton and Crox training again. At first it looked as though Barton would be able to hold his own. No matter how many pirates came at him, he was able to drive them back every time. In fact many of the pirates began to wonder if they were not up against the best swordsman on the seas. They thought this because not only was Barton keeping them from overtaking him, he was disarming them and sending them on their way with such graceful blows which wounded but took no life. It was, in fact, a very graceful display of skill and courage to say the least.
Crox however was not fairing so well. When everything had started he had seemed to be doing well enough, however after fighting he began to flounder. There had been a couple of close calls in which a pirate or two had almost wounded him. His sword felt somewhat clumsy in his hands and at one point he had almost dropped it! How he wished he had obeyed The Captain. If only he hadn’t been so full of pride and listened to his friend Barton.
Fighting back to back (the night watchman had been captured nearly almost as soon as the fighting had begun) the men seemed nearly invincible until the appearance of a true warrior stepped on deck. A pirate more neatly dressed than the rest with a tall purple feather coming out of his hat. His clothes were smooth as silk and as black as the darkest night. He wore leather gloves which is normally the mark of a swordsman at sea. Cautiously he eyed up the Mates as they battled on deck hoping one of them would expose a weakness.
Crox was so overwhelmed fighting the five pirates gathered all around him that he didn’t notice the dark figure moving towards him. A flash in the moonlight and Crox felt the weight of a heavy sword being brought down upon his own. His mind raced with counter moves. He should know how to respond, he and Barton had practiced a thousand times… Quickly he turned his wrist to counter, but his untrained muscles didn’t have enough power to execute the move properly. Instead of his opponent finding himself disarmed, Crox’s mind raced with terror as he watched his sword as it slid across the deck. Raising his hands and sinking his head, Crox had no choice now but to accept defeat. With pirates all around him now, and a new skilled foe to face, Barton reluctantly gave up his sword for fear of being run through. Though the sky was bright overhead, it had become very dark on Captain Hawk’s ship… but not all hope was lost…
THIS STORY WILL BE CONTINUED IN
“The Story of the Empty Chest”
Did you know that the Bible is referred to as a sword? Hebrews 4:12 says “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” God’s Sword that He has given us is His Word. The Bible is God’s Word. But, if the Bible is our Sword then what do we fight with it? We fight for truth. There is a real enemy in this world who wants for nothing more than the destruction of your soul. Will you win the fight? How can you win? The enemy is really strong, but no matter how powerful our enemies are our God is stronger! He has given us a secret weapon, the Bible! It’s sharper than any other sword and has the power to defeat all the enemies of our soul! I hope you’ll be ready when the enemy attacks you. Will you join me in this prayer today? “Dear Heavenly Father, Please forgive me for not being faithful to reading your Word. I believe Your Words are life. I thank You for giving me victory through Jesus’ work on the cross, and I pray that You will fill me with Your Spirit and develop in me the discipline to commit myself everyday to growing more and more into the image of Your Son, Amen.”
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