SUNDAY AT SEA (March 18)

In the daily schedule there is a time scheduled for personal prayers at 8:00 a.m. in the chapel, so Jon and I scurried up from our Deck 10 stateroom to the chapel. We thought it would be a good place to meet other Christians, on Sunday a.m. The chapel is lovely with blue velvet-covered straight chairs, and blue & green on a simple, colored-glass window, and carpeting. We were disappointed that only one other person came in to pray, a Catholic lady who didn’t speak English. We thought with 2,400 passengers and 1,200 crewmen on board that someone else would have come to the chapel…

However, the deep blue waters of sea, the pastel blue sky and the perfect crescent of the horizon all around us didn’t disappoint. How beautiful! We echo the declarations of the Psalmist:

“O, Lord, our Lord, how excellent is Your name in all the earth…You have made man to have dominion over the works of your hands; You have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen…the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea that pass through the paths of the seas. O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is your name in all the earth!”

So we spent the rest of the day, reading, walking along the deck, going to a couple of classes, napping, watching a movie and eating! I haven’t yet described to you the system of food service on board. It’s really something! There are four restaurants which are “free” to us, their costs are built into the cruise package. We have normally gone to one of the buffets that have a great variety of every foods – like a Golden Corral or Sirloin Steakhouse – except they vary the special foods. Yesterday one choice was Romanian-type lamb sausage wrapped in grape leaves, today the Vietnamese soup was special. Water, tea, coffee and milk are available, too.

We tried dinner at one of the other “free” restaurants, a very chic, candle-lit place called the Pacific Garden. The blackened Red Snapper I had served in thick yummy seafood gumbo might have been the best fish I’ve ever eaten.

It is a LUXURY ship; people with earnings like ours very infrequently get to go on such a trip, but the Lord has made ways for us to do many “luxurious things” on a shoestring. The cost of internet is a big concern though. I’m sorry about that. I'd rather spend more time "with you" on line.

We hope you have had a wonderful Sunday, including a great service. We prayed for that for all of you who may read this.