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    Sea Stories: A Sailor's Story of Faith on the Sea
    Sea Stories: A Sailor's Story of Faith on the Sea
    Sea Stories: A Sailor's Story of Faith on the Sea
    Ebook87 pages1 hour

    Sea Stories: A Sailor's Story of Faith on the Sea

    By Sheldon Smith

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    About this ebook

    Sea Stories is the journey of a US Navy Sailor traveling the Pacific. During these cruises, he learns not only about missions, but his own faith as well.

    After meeting countless missionaries in nine countries, Dan Smith has the stories and experience to share not only how to be involved in missions, but how to support missionaries and military personnel.

    This book is a must for those who support missionaries and the military. Church leaders will find the information in this book to be valuable for small group leaders and the congregation as a whole.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSheldon Smith
    Release dateNov 6, 2011
    ISBN9781466049048
    Sea Stories: A Sailor's Story of Faith on the Sea
    Author

    Sheldon Smith

    I am Dan Smith, a sailor and a Christian; a husband and a father. I have been in the US Navy for over 18 years and my single-minded desire is to reach and teach sailors. My biggest strength is mentoring as God has given me both a wealth of mentors who have brought me up in the Christian and Navy life, and I have been able to do the same. I'm grateful for this strength and wouldn't trade it for the world.My wife and I have been married just over 14 years and we have three children, a guinea pig, and a cat.

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      Book preview

      Sea Stories - Sheldon Smith

      Sea Stories

      A Sailor's Story of Faith on the Sea

      By: S. Daniel Smith

      Copyright: S. Daniel Smith 2011

      Published at Smashwords

      Chapter 1: My Background

      As I look outside the ship, sailing with a steady wake behind her, I notice quickly the shades of white and gray in the sky. The horizon, where the sky meets the pristine blue ocean, is in stark contrast with itself. I praise God for giving me the sea...his sea. I don't know why he has placed the ocean in my heart, and then blessed me with time on it, but he has done both, and I am grateful. I praise him for giving me the opportunity to see so many missionaries; so many countries, in my young life. I still have many places to visit in my naval career, and I also thank him for that.

      Yet I am perplexed somewhat by the question Why? Not why me, or at least not in a woe-is-me approach. But yes, I suppose it is a why me question. I'm not a missionary, nor do I have a big chance of becoming one vocationally someday. I don't serve on a mission board, or even on the missions team of my local church. I serve no purpose for the furtherance of missions around the world. In one thought, I ask God why he wastes his time with my story. Why send me around the world to learn about these things? I cannot become famous (my pride will kill me), and nothing I have written in the past has made much of a mark on the lives of others. The names I will drop in this book are not famous ones. If you know the name of a missionary I mention, it is probably because you either support the missionary or know them personally. I've never met, and cannot conveniently mention the name of Rick Warren, John McArthur, John Piper, or any other greats.

      I’m fairly certain that I make little mark on the missionaries I have visited. For most, I'm just another Sailor or short-term missionary who happens through. Very few of them remember me a few months or years after I have visited. I have never seen a foreign national come to Christ (that I know of), and therefore my impact on those cultures must be thought of as suspect as well. I know of the successes I've seen. I'm not trying to bring out false humility. All I mean to say is that I don't understand why God would use me, or indeed, if he really plans to regarding missions.

      Still, I feel compelled to record my travels. Maybe it is for my own benefit. I don't know. What I do know is that God has given me this really wonderful, intriguing chance to see the world in ways that most people don't get to. It is something I cherish in my heart, though it confuses me so.

      Going around the world in the US Navy has taught me a few things. One, I have learned the military mindset. I have learned the idea of an invasion. As a student of history and the Navy, I know full well how the invasions at Inchon, Guadalcanal, Okinawa, and Normandy went. I know how bloody they were and how many men didn't come back home. This is something I have learned to apply in my missionary travels. Sometimes, missionaries give everything to the mission field...some die in a foreign country.

      Having a military frame of mind leads me then to think of missionaries as soldiers. Granted, I don't know if they think of themselves much as soldiers, but Paul thought of Christians as such, so I don't think I'm wrong for doing so. I think they should be treated with a great deal of respect, and I have told people as much. We should welcome them home with fanfare, and send them off the same way. I hang on the stories from missionaries like I hang on the stories my grandfather told me about flying over Germany in WWII. I enjoy the fact that my church in San Diego sends missionaries to the field by holding a commissioning ceremony for them. I also appreciate the fact that we have had a number of all-night prayer vigils for some of them when a particularly big ministry event was about to take place. That's the primary reason we joined the church we joined. I don't know if the pastor or his staff thinks of sending missionaries as sending an army to a foreign battlefield, but I do.

      And no, this isn't about conquering a foreign culture. I'm talking about taking the fight to our collective enemy...Satan, not the people we are trying to reach.

      Another thing that I have learned is that America is a mission field. If you think that's not true...you're wrong. Upon returning to the United States, especially in California, I realized just how little of a Christian country I came back to. Granted, I have never held much faith in the idea that Christianity was king in America...ever, but I did grow up in a more conservative area of the country and in a conservative church. But that was Kansas, and after living in California, Arkansas, Illinois, and Virginia, I've realized that the country I hold dear is lost. People don't respect Sunday as God's day. They don't think God matters to them in an everyday way. Very few think (seemingly) think of life as a daily battlefield. There is little thought about bringing up children to love Christ. Sounds more like Thailand than America, but that's the America I love.

      Thankfully, God has slowly opened me up to the lost, at least to start caring that they are dying spiritually and going to hell. For that, I am grateful and I look forward to his next lesson about America and how I can help make it a truly Christian nation...by leading individuals to Christ.

      Finally, God has taught me through my travels that not all missionary styles work in every location. I have seen indigenous missions, inner-city missions, rural missions in other countries, and more traditional missions in almost every place I've visited. I know a lot of people believe very strongly about one way or the other, and what I'm here to say is that we have to do whatever works. Sure, I want to do what is most cost-effective, as long as that allows us to send more people and/or money overseas. I also want to do whatever will get more people into heaven and further God's kingdom on earth. However, I also believe that we can miss the forest for the trees if we're not careful. And a spirited debate is fine. Who am I to argue with a person who leans strongly to one method or the other? I have no problem with these feelings, no matter what they are. However, if we get too caught up in the debate, while people are dying and going to hell, then we've messed up bad. This is the point of my argument here...anything goes, as long as it's ethical.

      But this still doesn't explain the why question. Why did God give me these stories, with no mandate to do anything with them? If I am not famous, and if I have very little chance to become so, why has God chosen to share these things with me? If I had a name, then I could stand up and tell people to support their missionaries with greater fervor, but I have no such

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