Battleship Trip
I went to Florida and took a dip in the ocean blue.
After three days I bid Florida ado.
Then in Alabama, I made a stop down in Mobile Bay
On that bright, sunny, and happy day,
I went on board their very famous battleship.
On my battleship trip,
I met with a bit of a slip,
And came face to face with a battleship trip.
On the good ship lollipop its a sweet trip to the candy shop where bon-bon's play, on the sunny beach of peppermint bay.....Lemonade stands, everywhere crackerjack bands, fill the air....
The Good Ship Lollipop was made popular in 1934 by child actress Shirley Temple singing it in the movie Bright Eyes. The ship was not really a ship at all, but actually an American Airlines Douglas DC-2 airplane. A lot of things in life are not at all what they appear to be, or what we imagine, or expect them to be. And on the other hand some things we sense to be not just right, are truly not just right and we should pay more attention to our gut feelings. What the world calls gut feelings is actually the HolySpirit guiding His children to all truth.
From the little rhyme above I supposed you gathered the gist of this story today. I went to Florida stopped back by the USS Alabama Battleship Park/Museum in Mobile and my face met the steel floor leaving it cut, bruised, and broken. Now when I see an ole gangster movie when one of the mobsters says, "I'ma gonna breaka your face" I will so much more clearly understand how painful a threat that really is. Yes, my battleship trip turned out to be just that "a battleship trip" that will not be forgotten.
We stopped by with the plan to just look around outside at the exhibits of planes etc. and not pay to go on the actual ship that we had visited once before about thirty years ago. However, we decided that we might as well go in and see the ship again while we were there. As I took one step into the entrance I took three steps back. I told my husband to go on in and I would wait on him outside. I said, "I just can't go in." He thought I meant I feared to get sick I think, but I really just had a gut feeling of danger, danger, danger. I wrote it off to panic of being in a closed-in space, decided to conquer my fear and go on in. Now, I wish I would have listened to the gut feeling that I believe was more than a gut feeling.
The tour throughout all the lower levels went well. No trips. I made it back safe and sound up the stairs to the top level where the restrooms were located. The yellow arrows pointing the way to the "Women's" called my name and I followed. At the end of the dark corridor I saw the hand drier straight ahead and the toilet to my right, I approached the open entrance and intended to enter upright. Unfortunately, the entrance to the restroom was blocked at the bottom by a piece of steel that I didn't expect to be there. I tripped and went face first on to the cold hard steel floor.
Delete! Delete! Delete!!!!... wouldn't that be nice? I lay there and screamed for help that seemed like forever. My husband heard my cries and got me off the ship. An ambulance got me to the hospital where they stitched up my eye.
The battleship was not a good ship for me. It was not a sweet trip on that sunny day. My eye is not bright but bruised. The moral to this battleship trip tale is this. First of all, listen to your gut feelings. Obey the Holy Spirit that lives inside of you. Remember things are not always as they appear. Oh yeah, and if you do decide to be brave, conquer your fear, and step on into new things in your life, be careful. Don't allow your life trip to become a "life trip." Always watch where you are going and pray for God to guide your every step.
jbp