to fully and completely rely on God day by
day, moment by moment. Storms would
blow in and we would pray; breakdowns
would occur and we would pray. God has
never failed, and we all know that no matter where our adventures take us, He will
never leave us or forsake us.
Our oldest son was ready to give the sea
life a try and hopped on a prawn boat for a
short time when he was 19. It was a hard
lesson for all of us when we realized that
life was not the same on all fishing boats.
This boat was harsh and full of men who
did not care for or honor God or man. My
son lasted two weeks, and despite the lure
of a lot of money, he chose to walk off the
boat and come home. It was a joy to see
his appreciation for home and the values
he had been taught. It was more of a joy to
see his love for his Lord and the realiza-tion that life without God was no life at
all. Hard as it was to see my son in distress, I know that the lessons he learned
will never be forgotten. Just because the
boat floats and fishes does not make it
home! The Lord was not a partner on that
boat, but He protected and blessed Jordan
and allowed him the opportunity to see
that only where God is at the head will
48 ■ Show and Tell
there be joy and grace. Jordan’s next boat
job was out on the Pacific Ocean fishing
for tuna, and it was a totally different experience. He has now had two complete
tuna seasons at sea and it has enabled him
to follow his dreams of working in communication and with youth at a local summer camp.
All the time that Mark was fishing,
his work was our only source of income.
Never did the Lord let us down. We knew
when times were tight that we were still
together and that’s what mattered. We ate
well, all manner of bounty from the sea!
We also learned to compact our study
times into small periods and get the most
out of every moment. Two weeks here,
one month there, when Dad was at sea, we
worked at home and got our “book learning” done. When Dad came home, we
switched gears and enjoyed our time together. We learned what things we had to
let go and we learned how to preserve and
prioritize family times. Many times even
our church family would be frustrated at
our inability to commit to be at various
events and functions. The kids quickly
learned that days with Dad were valuable
and that we had to protect our family time.
I have never ever regretted the decision to
keep our kids home and close, where they
belong. If they were in public school, the
family time we had would have shrunk to
nothing. We are thankful every day for
the opportunity to educate our children in
the way we have been led.
Duringall of these
years, the roar
of the ocean was
always inour ears
and our hearts.
During all of these years, the roar of
the ocean was always in our ears and our
hearts. Literally, we live so close we can
hear the waves crashing on the shore, so
it is never out of our thoughts for long.
Within our household, we depend upon the
sea and its catch for our livelihood. Being
a stay-at-home mom with a husband who
is away for weeks at a time has had many
unique challenges, none of which would
have been manageable without the faithfulness of our Lord. Aside from being just
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