Original Poem: Stick To The Chart

This nautical poem came from a true life experience. I was captaining a 100 passenger high-speed ferry from Sitka, Alaska to Victoria, BC, where it would be loaded on a freighter for Miami, Florida. From Miami I would pilot it up the eastern seaboard to New York Harbor for a company called New York Waterway. In Queen Charlotte Sound we ran into heavy fog and the poem started to sprout when my crewman asked me, "can you see where you're going?".  I carefully made my way through the sound by keeping a close watch on the nautical chart and the radar. I would see where the channel buoy was on the chart and then find it on the radar screen. It was slow going and tedious but it got us safely through the fog. My trusty binoculars where vital in order to locate the next marker buoy and keep on the correct course. Remember that maps are called charts in the nautical world.

                                     

 Stick To The Chart

 By J. Brad Chapman

"Can you see where you're going?", he called to the bridge;

the fog was as thick as a curtain.

"Can't see a thing",  came the voice from the helm.

"I'll stick to the chart, that's for certain."

The chart gives directions to steer the ship true,

through dangerous shallows and gaps.

When sight is obscured, visibility gone,

we trust in the use of our maps.

Scriptures like maps , will show us the way,

through sheer rocky passes and storms.

They guide us safely through tempest and trial,

to where it is sheltered and warm.

Like the sure captain, do you stick to the chart,

when the course turns foggy and gray?

Or do you despair, when you cannot see,

and murmur and whine in dismay.

God grants us faith when we stick to the chart,

to weather the worst of the storms.

And He grants the spirit as we brace to the wind;

it comforts us, guides us, and warns.

So when sight's obstructed and you've drifting off-course,

and you can't see your way through the squall.

Look to the scriptures; the Charts of the Lord.

Be bold, show faith, and stand tall.

And if ever you ask, "which way do I go?",

when the course is obscured, dim and gray.

Grip tight to the chart, and sail out in the wind;

God's already charted the way!