Life on a Tall Ship. Yeah right…
OK, March 2001 I was ‘sent" to Brunswick Ga. via Chattanooga. The birthplace of the "Vine Community". They started out as a "House Church/ Hippy flop House". Some of the hippys had turned into the original "Jesus Freaks".
http://www.twelvetribes.com/publications/new-wineskin-our-story.html Now what this story doesnt tell you is how they morphed from a open, loving community, accepting all, to a dictatorship and that they consider themselves to be the only ones and the only way and all others, especially Christians, were going to the "Lake of Fire" for eternity. Except for a few righteous people who had never heard of "Yahshua" and this must be from one of them. They alone had the power and authority to speak of the Son of God. So dont be fooled by this PR piece…
Usually at any given time, there are trips going from community to community, or to different jobs or events. Most of this is done in their vehicles which usually are junk unless its an elders vehicle… If all else fails, its the Greyhound. Then again, if your a big cheese, your flying…
So I got a ride to Chatanooga and got a little tour of the old houses they used to live in and one of their "Yellow delis" The name of the cafes the had before the "Bible Belt " folks of the south ran out the "Hippy Cult" to Vermont .I then got a ride from Gabar (the man in Hebrew). He was the contruction crew head in Brunswick who had a small crew doing odd jobs for community money. He was one of the originals and was from Chattanooga and had Folks still living there. He has 4 boys and they are a handfull…
Just as we pulled into Brunswick, the boat was returning from dumping "black water" out at sea. "Grey water" is your effluent from your showers and sinks which can go directly overboard at the docks. "Black water" is the water from your commodes. The black water must be pumped to a tank on shore for disposal or you can go 5 miles out from the line of demarction(usually the shoreline) and dump it overboard. The marina we were at didnt have accomodations for a vessel of our size, so it was out to sea we went. This usually would take place on "First Day" (Jewish term) which is Sunday, also according to calendars. So you see, the 7th day, the "day of rest" is actually Sat. This is also a whole nother topic for a book. Sunday was for the Pagan sun worshipers and Rome wanted to join the two together.And on and on….never mind…
Anyway, the community used Sundays for community projects and improvements. Its sup[pose to be a day of teachings combined with festival. "First Day Festivals" were always talked and heard about but never would seem to manifest. So, the whole community, almost, would make a day of it and go for a boat ride and have lunch. Sometimes it would be awful rough and some would get sick as plates and cups were tossed to and fro in the galley and unfastened doors would slam open and shut as this morphadite of a ship would rock and roll like a cork in a stream.
If you saw the "Avany" from a distance, or even up close for that matter, you would expect to see a live girrafes head sticking out of one of the porthaoles. She looked just like Noahs Ark. It was hand built and crafted by a family of Portuguese ship shipwrights in the jungles of Brazil for a rich offshore oil rig designer and manufacturer. It was intended to be a triple masted motorsailor which means the sails were used to assist the engines for speed and fuel consumption. There was to be only 3 "marconi" sails(triangles) and they were to be operated hydralicaly from the bridge. The masts were made but never "set" and no rigging or sails were ever made. So to say she was underpowered was a understatement, It was a pig. 125′ long and 33 foot wide. The keel drew 13′ of water so it was hard to find deep water docks for her. But she was goergeous. All hand crafted mohagany and Brazilian "Ironwood" (Ipei). The iron wood family is related to teak and ids so dense it sinks if you were to throw a piece of it in the water. It very rot resistant and hard. The owner bought land in Uraguay, picked out the trees he wanted, had them cut and shipped to the shipyard in Brazil. The ship had 4 beautiful suites in it with there own private baths, commodes AND bidets!(French ass washer). The Owners room was oppulent! It had its own fan tail deck , walkincloset and a huge bed and bath with jacuzzi. Everything was georgeous hand crafted, highly finished mohagany. The Capts room was small, right below the brid with a phone to the brigde. It had a nice reading desk and a small head with shower. It was very apparent that there was to be a seperation of the crew from the guests. The crews quarters were built into the forepeak of the ship and had a seperate outside entrance to it. There were 2 rooms. One was meant for the male crew. It had 4 bunks and a head/shower and the females had two bunks with shower and head. Im assuming these would be maids/cooks. Just outside these 2 rooms was a mini galley for the help to cook in. The main Galley was huge with a bar with stools surrounding it and a breakfast booth also.
I can see this is going to take more than I thought, so I will continue when I can…stay tuned…
Next: THE DINING ROOM!!!!!