Pursuing the Presence, Purpose and Power of a closer walk with Christ

Archive for January, 2012

Detained


   Cruise ships today may not be a popular notion for many people since the sinking of the Carnival liner Concordia this past week on January 15, 2012. Staying the course would have prevented the lost of precious lives and valuable cargo, not to mention the ship itself. The captain’s leaving the sinking ship before all passengers were safely off cost him the loss of his position and resulted in  his being detained;  he was placed under Coast Guard arrest. 

    I recently went on a  different  Caribbean cruise ship with my daughter, simultaneously to the one that sank.   Taking a few minutes of my time to retrieve  her sea pass card would have prevented  a greater amount of  time lost while she had been detained in a foreign country.

  We sailed to Cozumel, Mexico, a faraway destination we had been looking forward to since last July.  I hadn’t yet booked an excursion for the port-of-call. After embarking from Fort Lauderdale,  the ship’s representative  sold us a tour featuring highlights and shopping. It was emphasized  to arrive early  at the designated site on the Mexican pier.  The morning we reached Mexico,  I was anxious to depart for the excursion.  I protested  to the ship’s porter who detained us  due to leaving my daughter’s  sea pass card in our stateroom.  I carried my sea pass card, my driver’s licence and her state ID in addition  to both our passports.  Shouldn’t that be enough  identification ?

    No! It was enough to get passed the ship’s attendant, but not the Mexican Police! I had to leave her at the  Mexican gate…in the rain…in a wheelchair! I was thankful a couple of friends were not far behind and willingly stayed detained with her.

   I ran 75% of the way to the ship before slowing to a fast walk. I explained  the crisis to the ship attendants who commented that she should not have been allowed off the ship without her sea pass card. I waited the slow elevators full of people pouring into the ship from their excursions in Mexico. I obtained her card from our 10th floor stateroom and repeated the patience-assimilator back down to the gangway. No waiting in line to leave the ship. Who in their right mind would get off a ship just about to sail back to the states?

   The marvelous tour we’d been on took longer than expected and I feared I would not have ample time to reach the Mexican Police with the sea pass card. So I again ran 75% of the way back to the Mexican gate, breathing heavily as I walked the remaining distance. I could see one of our new friends making her way through the crowd ahead. She met me to say they had kept my daughter distracted. At that moment I was about to cry,  she protested. “Don’t fall apart now, you’ll stress your daughter out and undo all our efforts  to keep her  happy these past 40 minutes.” 

    The rain increased to a downpour.   Could we get any wetter?   Some of the other returning passengers may have thought we were having a wheelchair race back to the ship. I know for me,  it couldn’t be too soon to have both my daughter and I  back onboard again.

   Though detained a short time before sailing back to the states, I count my blessings for traveling mercies on  our first cruise.  I also thank God for keeping every one of my steps safe.

   Why wasn’t two forms of picture official ID acceptable for the Mexican Police? I discovered upon returning to Florida at the Customs check-point that our passports were invalid. I hadn’t read the directions to fill in the signatures on the first page of the new passports  after receiving them in the mail. There is an old saying that really is a nugget of wisdom:  A stitch in time saves nine.

   If you have a story about a similar experience, I would love to read it.  Leave  your comment at the end of this post.

 

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In Honor of Gerald Lee Cradlebaugh


Jerry Cradlebaugh

Honor. On my honor, your honor, in honor of… The on-line definition of the word “honor” list  several examples of its meaning. I’ve included the following;  Good name; Reputation, Glory or Recognition of distinction.

As Jerry’s widow, I was asked if there were a few things I wanted said when the Memorial Roll of  the recently departed would be read.

Gerald Lee Cradlebaugh was a great husband and father;  he was kind, thoughtful, loving, respectful, dependable,  and hard-working.  In addition to his upright character, he was a committed Christian who was saved, sanctified and delivered back in  February of 1999. It was unexpected that he went to his eternal home in heaven so suddenly on  October 15th, 2009… but  he was ready.

Family issues arose in the last couple of days of his life, which caused  a resurgence of grief  that involved other estranged family members.  On the night before he died,  he carried those burdens again to the Lord. He spoke out loud as he lifted his face toward heaven and ask God’s forgiveness for his angry feelings towards those individuals. “Forgive me Lord, that wasn’t right what I said . I know you don’t want me to feel that way towards them. You want me to love everyone and to forgive.

” One of the things his brother, Reverend Charles Cradlebaugh had said on a few occasions in the Church of God was, “You gotta love everybody before you  go in.” Jerry was ready.

Jerry did not want to follow the  line of succession of preachers his family descended from. However, he did preach a profound message that was for those he wanted to be ready. Jerry  said that people needed to get ready.  Some of the people he knew as  neighbors, co-workers, friends  and  family members weren’t ready.  Jerry would pray often and on special occasions would fast and pray for family members; for their salvation, for reconciliation and  to be reunited with loved ones he hadn’t seen for years.

For someone who didn’t say much, what he did say about being ready when he lived his final night on Earth was important.  Jerry was ready. Some of you that are listening  aren’t ready.  But you still have the opportunity to get ready by turning from your sin and asking  Jesus to forgive you of whatever is keeping you from being ready.

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