Religion: A Pastor Ponders

Sail On!

by Pastor William Jenkins

October 10, 2005

Ships of Christopher Columbus at sea

Photo credit: N.C. Wyeth, 1927 -from the Library of Congress

Monday, October 10, is the observance of Columbus Day. The actual day is Wednesday the 12th. A long weekend takes precedence over historical fact.
On October 12, 1492, after 70 days at sea, Christopher Columbus made this astonishing entry into the ship’s log: “Sighted land!”

On such a small hinge, history made a sweeping turn. October 13 is the birthday of the U.S. Navy. On that day in 1775, the Continental Congress authorized a fleet of two cruisers. Need I remind you that Columbus had three boats?

Keeping his place in history has not been an easy task for Mr. Columbus; but if he is known for anything, it is tenacity. He has always had to play second-mate to “Erik the Red”, the Viking explorer who supposedly landed on the North American mainland around 1000A.D. Even on the calendar Erik is ahead of Columbus as Leif Erikson day is Oct 9.

Those first Europeans must not have been terribly impressed with the New World. They may have considered it a nice place to visit but didn’t want to live here. Perhaps if they had landed in the tropics as Columbus did they would have had a more favorable impression. Interestingly, Columbus polished his skills as a sailor by sailing to Iceland.

It was from writings of Ptolemy and the apocryphal book of 2 Esdras that Columbus concluded that the world was round and conceived the idea of reaching Asia by sailing west.

On August 3, 1492, Columbus set sail to bring his idea to pass. Historians studying the ships logs kept by Columbus on his epic voyage have noted that on many days the entry simply stated, “Today we sailed on.”

Not much happened. There were no storms, no rainbows, no interesting diversions from the monotony of sea, sky and horizon. “Today we sailed on”, through the uneventful and the unpromising. With only a dream, and faith in that dream, and nothing to sustain that dream but hope, “We sailed on.”

Beyond the point at which over half the life-sustaining supplies were used up and the greatest peril lay in turning back, “We sailed on.” Therein lay the secret of success for Christopher Columbus.

Perseverance through the uneventful and the unpromising days yet remains the secret of success in all of life’s endeavors. In the event you did not notice, Columbus failed to reach his goal. Something better got in his way. Such are the rewards of perseverance. Sail on!

League City United Methodist Church is located at 1411 Main Street (FM 518), one block east of Interstate 45. For information, call the church offices at 281-332-1557 or visit the website at

HYPERLINK - http://www.lcumc.org