Life Lessons

For 25 years, Diane and I taught in the Youth and Family Ministry of the Pioneer Valley Church of Christ in Western Ma. We would often utilize in our class, group challenges and alternative games to get to know the groups as well as the individuals.

I love the Bible and what it teaches and equally how it teaches. I have come to appreciate what matters most, is unseen. Furthermore, I have come to love the metaphorical teaching style of Jesus. Here are some of the thoughts and lessons resulting from time spent with KINDNESS. Enjoy!

-Dave

David Merck 6/21/21 David Merck 6/21/21

KINDNESS & Patience

Love is patient… and I’m not. This reminds me of a famous quote from the movie Rudy, where a priest consoling Rudy promotes two incontrovertible facts, “There is a God… and I’m not Him.”

Love is patient... And I'm not. This reminds me of a well known quote from the movie Rudy, where a priest consoling Rudy promotes two incontrovertible facts, "There is a God... And I'm not Him."

Patience and KINDNESS go together. On SV KINDNESS there is no saying, "Let's just get there." There is nothing instantaneous about it. The distance KINDNESS covers in twelve hours can be covered by a car on a freeway in one hour. There is even a saying, "If you want to go somewhere fast, don't take a boat".

So is KINDNESS slow? No, as far as sailboats go, she is pretty speedy especially when the wind is just slightly behind her. At the same time, there are certainly faster sailboats. KINDNESS is a wonderful mix of performance, comfort, and cost.

On the Inter-coastal Waterway(ICW), KINDNESS is about as big a sailboat you will find. Her sixty three foot mast barely fits under the many sixty five foot fixed bridges. On the ICW, KINDNESS is passed by just about everything. She is passed by jet skis, power boats, and even super yachts. She doesn't mind though because they are all just sprinters. KINDNESS is a marathon runner and she can go the distance. We have already traveled well over two thousand nautical miles on her so far and she lives to sail.

They say if you are scared of heights go do a high ropes adventure course. It will either cure you or drive you crazy. So here I am hanging out with patience and KINDNESS. It remains to be seen whether it cures me or drives me crazy.

Perhaps peace can be found in the stillness of patience overseen by KINDNESS.