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I think I’ll make this the last blog related to the Alaskan cruise. Thanks for your patience! Our last stop in Alaska was Skagway, a charming little town, the gateway to the Yukon during the gold rush days. We took a train 20 miles to the top of the pass that leads into Canada, but that’s not what I want to write about. It’s when we came back into town that I had my surprise:

A 1960 Metropolitan!

Who cares, you say? I do. I learned to drive on one of those. My first was a 1957 model, which we later traded in on a 1960 model, same as the one that lives in Skagway, except mine wasn’t a convertible. Otherwise, just the same, red on top, white on the bottom. The main difference between the ’57 and the ’60 was that the trunk was accessible from the outside on the ’60, instead of only through the back seat. It’s only the second one I’ve seen in the past 50 years.

I’m not a car guy, but I guess there’s something special about the car you learn to drive on, especially when it’s that cute and you don’t see one very often.

I’m amazed even now at how excited I was when I saw the car. I dragged the other eight people in our group out to see it: “I learned to drive on one of these!” I said at least three times.

There’s no real significance to any of this except it’s one of those little surprises (astonishments?) and joyful moments that God provides from time to time, and I am grateful. And Mark was thoughtful enough to grab the picture of me with the car.

Of course, Mark provided the whole experience. We always said that we had no desire to go on a cruise, but if we were going to take one, it would be to Alaska. So it happened. After we got back, I was reading about our particular ship, the Star Princess, and there was a fire on board back in 2006. So like any other travel, there are things that can go wrong. But nothing did.

Thank you, Mark. Thank you, Lord.

First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you… (Romans 1.8, compare also 1 Corinthians 1.3, Philippians 1.3, Colossians 1.3)

Rejoice always…In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. (1 Thessalonians 5.16, 18, NKJV)

Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever! (Psalm 107.1, ESV)

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I’m trying to practice astonishment more. Part of the life with God should be the predisposition to be astonished at what God is doing in the world, including all the wonderful inventions he allows people, as his co-creators, to produce. So I don’t take for granted, for example, that we carry way more computing power in our phones than the astronauts took to the moon. Or that, by and large, our cars work for way longer than they did when I was growing up.

But nothing is more astonishing than the salmon. This photo of a short explanation posted in the Macaulay Fish Hatchery in Juneau captures it, and on the right is one of their salmon practicing it. Coming home. After 2 years in the open ocean, the salmon find their home stream.

How do they do that? “Using these and other techniques” they find their way home. It’s astonishing.

And God said, “Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens.” So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” (Genesis 1.20 – 22, ESV)

There are three things that are too amazing for me, four that I do not understand: the way of an eagle in the sky, the way of a snake on a rock, the way of a ship on the high seas, and the way of a man with a young woman. (Proverbs 30.18, 19, NIV)…and let’s add, the way of a salmon returning home from the open sea!

And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching. (Matthew 7.28, ESV)

Then the proconsul believed, when he saw what had occurred, for he was astonished at the teaching of the Lord. (Acts 13.12, ESV)

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I’m still writing about lessons learned during our Alaskan cruise…

I’ve said that the ship was a marvel, like walking around a high-end hotel. How do they keep it like that? It’s at sea continuously–less than four hours after we disembarked in Seattle, a new crop of passengers was boarding, and off they went again.

Answer: continuous improvement.

One morning we came back to our cabin, and three guys were in there changing out the bedside lamps. Now there was nothing wrong with the existing lamps, but new ones were a bit nicer, including a place to charge your phone. And it’s a 15-minute process to change them since the bedside tables are anchored to the ship, and the lamps are anchored to the tables. With 1300 cabins, changing lamps is a significant process. So they keep chipping away at it, one cabin at a time while the ship is at sea.

Sometimes we wait to do something thinking, “I’ll wait until I have time to do it right.” Marie Kondo, for example, the tidying guru, advocates going through all your books at once. Take them all off the shelves and put back only those which “spark joy.” Same with closets filled with clothes. That makes decluttering a massive project that’s tough to find time for.

By contrast, in her book Decluttering at the Speed of Life, Dana White advocates a more incremental approach. If you see one book on the shelf that you don’t need and take it immediately to the giveaway box in the garage, you’ve made progress!

Continuous improvement: it applies to saving money. I have an app that rounds up my purchases and drops the money into a savings account. There’s over $2,000 in that account accumulated in just a couple years. For those of us that eat too much, can we just cut down a little? And start exercising…a little? Spiritually, the Lord would rather we spend a dedicated 15 minutes with him in the morning than NOT spend an hour! Memorizing chapters from the Bible might be nice, but how about one verse? And holy moments? we can start that habit now, too, even if it’s just one.

Our daily actions, the small ones, make a difference.

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind… (Romans 12.2, ESV)

I walked by the field of a lazy person, the vineyard of one with no common sense. I saw that it was overgrown with nettles. It was covered with weeds, and its walls were broken down. Then, as I looked and thought about it, I learned this lesson: A little extra sleep, a little more slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest—then poverty will pounce on you like a bandit; scarcity will attack you like an armed robber. (Proverbs 24.30 – 34, NLT)

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Yesterday I wrote about two beautiful gardens, each the product of one person’s vision and a lot of people’s work. Today, as another highlight of our Alaskan cruise, I want to share with you the beauty of the Tracy Arm Fjord, on the way to Juneau. This is the product of no person’s vision or work. No one built the waterway, and the mountains are as God put them.

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. (Genesis 1.1, ESV)

You are the LORD, you alone. You have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them; and you preserve all of them; and the host of heaven worships you. (Nehemiah 9.6, ESV)

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I wrote earlier about the power of people working together, an important concept. But more often than not, what people accomplish together is the product of one person’s vision. The Jews had been back in country after the Babylonian exile for 90 years, and no one had the vision to rebuild the wall around Jerusalem until Nehemiah.

Then I said to them, “You see the trouble we are in, how Jerusalem lies in ruins with its gates burned. Come, let us build the wall of Jerusalem, that we may no longer suffer derision.”  …And they said, “Let us rise up and build.”  (Nehemiah 2.17, 18, ESV)

On our Alaskan cruise, we saw this phenomenon twice in visits to two gardens: Glacier Gardens near Juneau and Butchart Gardens near Victoria, B.C. Both were the product of one person’s vision: Steve Bowhay, a landscape architect in Juneau, had the vision to reclaim land devastated by a major storm and landslide. The now world-famous “Flower Towers” in Glacier Gardens resulted from what they now refer to as “a beautiful accident.” Jennie Butchart, wife of Robert Butchart, owner of Portland Cement, had the vision to plant a garden to beautify a quarry originally used for cement. Both turned ugliness into beauty. 

Don’t underestimate the power of one. God chooses one to mobilize many. Does God want you to join a movement…or start one!

The angel of the Lord appeared to [Gideon] and said to him, “God is with you, O mighty man of valor…Go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Do not I send you? (Judges 6.12, 14, ESV)

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I mentioned yesterday that we started our travel day Saturday before the cruise watching our son Mark (and cruise host!) winning the Mile Stadium stair race for the 5th straight year. Mark is a nationally ranked stair climber—these are people who race up skyscrapers. For example, one highlight of our trip was a visit to the Seattle Space Needle, an engineering marvel dedicated in 1962. (I actually saw it that summer as I was on tour with a musical group from my high school.) Anyway, Mark is one of five men in the world to run to the top of the Space Needle in less than 5 minutes!

So what does a nationally ranked stair climber do while on a vacation cruise? The same thing he does every other day: he trains! Mark had a training schedule mapped out before he left, including running laps around the ship using the jogging track, running up and down the stairs on the ship, and even getting into Skagway early to do a 90-minute trail run. The last night of the cruise, we all got in just before midnight. Mark was up at 5am running the ship’s stairs one more time. From Deck 6 to Deck 17 in 55 seconds with a leisurely 2-minute run down…13 times.

Train yourself for godliness; for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. (1 Timothy 4.7, 8, ESV)

Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. (1 Corinthians 9.25, NIV)

One more thing. We don’t train spiritually just for ourselves—it’s for others. Bible study without application and passing it on is like going to the gym to get strong but never helping anyone move their piano!

Mark’s fitness is not just for himself as he demonstrated on the last day. The only way we could make our suitcases weigh less than the airline’s 50-pound weight limit was to put some excess into my backpack. Oops. I put more into it than my left knee (the one not replaced last year!) wanted to carry. So, Mark to the rescue.

Mark put Galatians 6.2 literally into practice! Another holy moment.

Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. (Galatians 6.2, NIV)

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Saturday before the cruise was a long day. We had gotten up early to watch our son Mark run (and win!) the Mile-High Stadium run for the 5th straight year. Then straight to the airport, fly to Seattle, negotiate the commuter train system (thanks to the help of a friendly Seattle native) and arrive at our hotel in downtown Seattle about 12 hours after we had gotten out of bed. 

I had gotten a text saying, “Your room is ready. Just stop by the desk to pick up a key.” So we went into the hotel, and there was a desk with a young man behind it. I said, “I’m here for my room key that the text said would be ready.” He smiled and said, “No problem sir, let me have your identification, and I’ll get it for you.” 

Only after he had left did I realize I was at the concierge desk, not the check-in desk! A minute later he came back with a key and wished me a good day. As we made our way to the room, I noticed a long line to get to the check-in desk. My mistake and his cheerful response had saved us a lot of time when, as I said, we were tired.

It was a holy moment on his part for which we were very grateful. Most hotel employees, even at nice hotels, would have said to me, “Sir, the check-in desk is right over there. They will take care of you.” 

Do I do just the “letter-of-the-law” of my job, or am I willing to go above and beyond? 

Do everything readily and cheerfully… (Philippians 2.14, MSG)

Put your heart and soul into every activity you do, as though you are doing it for the Lord himself and not merely for others. (Colossians 3.23, Passion Translation)

Encourage the believers to be passionately devoted to beautiful works of righteousness by meeting the urgent needs of others and not be unfruitful. (Titus 3.14, Passion Translation)

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I write from time to time about the importance of good work, well done. We serve people by our work, we serve people at our work, and, if we are believers, we have an opportunity to advance the Kingdom from our work. I’m a huge fan of excellent work. The world is full of artists: some are carpenter artists who frame houses, some are programming artists who write elegant (or even just functional!) code, some exercise their art by fixing cars.

We were blessed on our cruise by the serving artistry of Nestor, from the Philippines, our head waiter at the evening dinner venue. 

Nestor is 42 years old and has been with the cruise line for 19 years. He works with enthusiasm and joy despite the demand: 12 hours/day, 7 days a week, 10 months out of the year. He works to support his family who is back in the Philippines, including sending his sons to college. He paid attention to detail remembering the extra red pepper for our grandson, watermelon appetizer for our granddaughter, and when he heard that June was allergic to onions in a salad asked, “We can bring you another salad with no onions, what dressing would you like?” June replied, “The original dressing is fine.” Nestor said, “No ma’am. It is onion-based, too.”

I don’t know whether or not Nestor is a believer. I left him with one of my books (The Disciple’s Work), which does have the gospel in it. But for us, we would do well to work with the same zeal and spirit of excellence.

Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ. (Colossians 3.23, 24, ESV)

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Continuing lessons learned/observed on our Alaskan cruise, let’s think about the crew a little more. According to the fact sheet, there were 1100 of them! 

And they were all different. Different jobs. Different nationalities—as nearly as I could tell, there were no U.S. citizens on the hotel staff of the ship except, perhaps, a few of the entertainers. Men and women. Old and young. Our primary server at dinner, Nestor, about whom I’ll write later, is from the Philippines, 43 years old, and has worked for the cruise lines for 19 years. 

And what they want as individuals doesn’t matter. It’s what the cruise line wants. All were neatly groomed. All were in their appropriate uniforms. All did their assigned jobs cheerfully, correctly, without fanfare, and in English, regardless of what their native language was. 

The application to our churches is obvious:

You can easily enough see how this kind of thing works by looking no further than your own body. Your body has many parts—limbs, organs, cells—but no matter how many parts you can name, you’re still one body. It’s exactly the same with Christ. By means of his one Spirit, we all said good-bye to our partial and piecemeal lives. We each used to independently call our own shots, but then we entered into a large and integrated life in which he has the final say in everything…Each of us is now a part of his resurrection body, refreshed and sustained at one fountain—his Spirit—where we all come to drink. The old labels we once used to identify ourselves—labels like Jew or Greek, slave or free—are no longer useful. We need something larger, more comprehensive. I want you to think about how all this makes you more significant, not less. A body isn’t just a single part blown up into something huge. It’s all the different-but-similar parts arranged and functioning together. (1 Corinthians 12.12 – 14, MSG)

He handed out gifts of apostle, prophet, evangelist, and pastor-teacher to train Christians in skilled servant work, working within Christ’s body, the church, until we’re all moving rhythmically and easily with each other, efficient and graceful in response to God’s Son, fully mature adults, fully developed within and without, fully alive like Christ. (Ephesians 4.11 – 13, MSG)

Each soldier does what he’s told, so disciplined, so determined. They don’t get in each other’s way. Each one knows his job and does it. (Joel 2.7, 8, MSG)

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We just returned from our first cruise (a gift from our oldest son, Mark), the inside passage to Alaska. I won’t use this space to bore you with a travelogue, but I will tell you we had a fabulous time: sightseeing in Seattle before and after the cruise, visits to Ketchikan, Juneau, and Skagway in Alaska, each with its own highlights, and Victoria, B.C. 

The Ewellogy, as always, is about observations and lessons learned.

We were on the Star Princess, not the largest cruise ship out there, but plenty big enough: 17 decks, 1297 guest cabins, just 204 cabins fewer than the number of rooms in the Gaylord of the Rockies, the largest hotel in Colorado.

As I expected, the crew of our ship functioned like a well-oiled machine. There are two major divisions of the crew: the mariners responsible for the ship itself and the folks who ran the “hotel.” The mariners were largely invisible to us. I never saw the captain and only occasionally did I see an officer or a maintenance man walking around the ship. 

The hotel staff were a different story of course. They are everywhere. Housekeepers (“stewards”), chefs and their assistants, waiters at every venue serving food or drink, bartenders, baristas, “front desk” people, storekeepers, and a host of unseen staff as well. The ship had the look and feel of a luxury hotel.

When you think of it, the crew’s job is to create “holy moments,” not for themselves, but for us. They don’t know us. For the most part, they will never see us again, and yet their job is to serve…continually. The last sign I saw as I left the ship Sunday morning read something like:

All passengers will be on board by 3p. All crew must be on board by 2:30. We sail for Ketchikan at 4p.

In other words, less then 5 hours after we had breakfast in the Deck 14 buffet, they were serving lunch to the next group of passengers!

A number of years ago, there was a newspaper story about a church in Colorado Springs in which the church leadership made the point that their “customers” were not their own members. They said something like, 

Our job is not to serve our members. Our job is to teach our members to serve the community. The whole church is to be more like the employees at Walmart.

Today, I would say that the church would do well to see themselves as the staff of a cruise ship, not serving each other, but working together to serve the people in their environment—for them, the ship; for us, our neighborhoods, workplaces, and families. Perhaps, in addition to trips to Branson for seniors and ski trips for our youth, we need more mission trips—or, even better—more emphasis on the fact that we are on mission all the time.

For even the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve. (Mark 10.45)

Do everything readily and cheerfully—no bickering, no second-guessing allowed! Go out into the world uncorrupted, a breath of fresh air in this squalid and polluted society. Provide people with a glimpse of good living and of the living God. Carry the light-giving Message into the night so I’ll have good cause to be proud of you on the day that Christ returns. You’ll be living proof that I didn’t go to all this work for nothing. (Philippians 2.14 – 16, MSG)