I know that shepherds work hard in their jobs and that caring for creatures is no easy task, but when I think of David in his days as a shepherd of sheep, I think of his joy too – of David not just working, but living in the fields with the sheep. I see him having time to both care for their needs and to enjoy their company. His posture is relaxed even though he is vigilant, and his awareness includes the surroundings – the hills, the sky. I see him enjoying his life with them, often singing to his flock. After all, those sheep were the first to hear David sing psalms! Maybe he sang just to praise the Creator, maybe for the purpose of bringing comfort, or maybe he just enjoyed singing. Perhaps he enjoyed being with his sheep so much, the joy came out as a song. The point is, he enjoyed his circumstances. While the chicks were wonderful and the seascape still hangs on my wall, my absolute favorite memory of sharing joy with my Shepherd happened on a boat. Of course.
I was working an instructional charter out of Tortola on a 45’ sailboat, and one of my April charters fell on the week of my birthday. That was not unusual and I thought nothing of it, but (I later learned) Grandpa was missing me so late in the season and had asked the Lord to bless me on my birthday. Lilyan, it was phenomenal.
The two students and I were moored in North Sound on the island of Virgin Gorda, in a little bight near Bitter End, called Biras Creek. I became aware of Jesus at the very beginning of my birth-day. This happened in the evening of what I had always considered the night before, but I learned that the Jewish nation believes that every ‘day’ starts with darkness and ends with light (because of the verse in the first chapter of Genesis that reads “….and there was evening and there was morning, the first day….”). I had already served my students the evening meal in the cockpit and had cleaned the galley afterwards so they could study. I had gone forward to check the mooring lines off the bow before I retired to my stateroom for the night. I would always check the bow before I went to bed so there was nothing unusual in that. What was unusual was that, as I walked the starboard deck (on the right side of the boat) back to the cockpit, I felt something brush against my right leg. I glanced back and saw a pair of feet hanging off the topside of the deck. I was startled and my eyes popped wide open. I saw a dim outline of a male body stretched out on what you would call the roof of the cabin of the boat, his feet crossed and hanging over the edge of the upper deck, his arms crossed behind the neck. It was a perfectly relaxed body draped across the top of my boat which, trust me, I had NOT expected to see! I was stunned and incredulous, but I sensed who it was immediately. “Jesus?!?” I exclaimed out loud.
Thankfully the guests had already gone below for the night and my time was my own. I walked back to the midship area where he lay gazing up at the stars. He never took his eyes off them, but he raised his head long enough to make a sweeping gesture with his arms across the evening sky and said “Aren’t they incredible???”. Sadly, I had not noticed. I worked hard on charters and felt, though I encouraged my students to enjoy the views, that any time I took to enjoy the beauty around me should be taken during my days off. I sat down beside him and positioned myself to lay on my back, as he was. The sky was beyond description. Elegantly dressed in a velvety black, dappled with iridescent orbs and sparkling with praise, there were no words appropriate. We simply laid side by side and enjoyed them for a while. Then he would sometimes point to particular stars or groups of stars, commenting about one thing or another – always about their beauty. I stayed with him for an hour or so, until sleep’s attraction rivaled that of the stars. The joy we shared marveling at the sky, like the joy we shared enjoying the chicks, was an experience I will always treasure. Sometimes I wonder if, as his creation, perhaps he enjoys us, even me, in the same way. This is a thought too great for me to yet absorb.
—- Taken from “The Courtship of Christ”