First of all I would like to wish everyone a belated
Happy Thanksgiving. This truly has been a year for me to be thankful for all of
GodÕs blessings.
One of those thankful blessings which I have appreciated
greatly is the gift from God to make choices that effect your future based upon
faith alone.
Therefore, I have decided not to pursue the auction on
the potential Diversity ship, but to continue to look elsewhere .
My reasoning for this decision is complex and it I
suppose just comes down to a feeling that this is the right course. Reasons for
this action are outlined as follows, but really are centered on the concept of
ministry focus.
To finish rebuilding the auctioned ship would required an
intense focus on that type of fixing, and would require much, much time in
supervision etc., just to get the ship operational. I also have some well
paying hardwood flooring work coming up just before the holiday season and that
extra money would be nice, while not necessary this would take all time away
from actively pursuing the ship auction.
The Bible says the fields are ripe for harvest, the workers
are few. It does seem as poor stewardship of those limited resources, to do
mechanical fixing, when the focus should be on the fixing and restoring the
worldÕs most pressing problem, manÕs destiny. The Bible doesn't say that money
is limited, even though that is always a problem, at least in my understanding,
good people properly utilized, are a much more limted resource.
When I returned home Wednesday evening, in the mail was a
copy of ÒBoats & Harbors.Ó Its
sort of like the ÒLittle NickelÓ but for ships and related equipment. I used to
subscribe to the publication, but every couple of months they still send a copy
to their old mailing list. Before I opened it to see what was available, I
prayed that if the Lord wanted me to look beyond the auctioned ship, that there would be at least one ship
advertised that I thought would be a better fit for our needs.
There were two. One was a Canadian customs seized yacht
on Vancouver Island, to be sold by bid on 12 December. After further
investigation that vessel does not handle enough passengers, and would also
take a great deal of work to make it serviceable, again altering ministry
focus.
The other was a mini-cruise ship that held fifty
passengers and crew, which I had seen before with a ship broker, but at this
time seemed to be advertised directly from the owner. When I returned to the
previous website to see if it was indeed the same vessel, I noticed the same
ship that I was interested in just before my mother passed on.
I had contacted the broker and were to meet that week to
see the ship as it lies in Seattle, but for some reason he did not make the
connection. At the end of that week my mother died. After most of my motherÕs
estate stuff was settled, I again looked at the website to see if the ship was
still available, but there was no listing. But when I looked yesterday, it was
again listed, with a list price reduction of $300k.
Small cruise ship economics show that you need about 100
passengers, to reach the proper economics of scale to make commercial money.
This ship being half that size, while it can be profitable, does not produce
the best return on investment. In short it is ideal for this ministry use and
not much good to anyone else. It is ready to go, no loss of focus, just a lot
more asking$$$. But the owners are local and wanted to make a deal etc., six
months ago. We also now have the other equipment on hand to be able to promote
this ministry opportunity and be ready to be operational my the next spring.
With all of that in mind I have decided to pursue this
adventure opportunity as the Lord leads or changes this direction.
Your continued intercessory prayer is requested.