By Dr Charles Leyman Kachitsa
The wind has direction though often it can not be judged by our human feeling neither using eyes or ears. Experienced fishermen and seamen have often exhibited knowledge in judging wind direction instinctively as they navigate their boats to counter any effects of strong winds. But even such knowledge is always limited as they only depend on chance since the wind can change direction at a stroke without notice.
Man has invented instruments to judge the wind direction in a particular area. Ironically such instruments have remained very basic for centuries and not yet very complicated perhaps to align with the wind behaviour which is natural in all its essence. Some have queried the necessity of knowing wind directions on land apart from navigation usage on sea. Such questions have been answered appropriately as not only it’s necessary for air travel but also for proper design of so many of our everyday use items.
There is wisdom in admiring nature in the behaviour of the wind even though other people in frustration have likened it to characteristics of unsettled people. Yet all in all, nature presents compensations in all that is there in this world. We have just to be eager to learn and the starting point is mastering in judging the direction of the wind. If we know, it requires at times to follow the direction of the wind and in other times to counter it in moving towards the opposite direction. Given a chance, experienced seamen will give such advice!
The quotes this week are an extraction from a book that when read in full you begin to understand that God’s plans are His own and that where humans judgement are concerned there is always a limit in perceiving that which is right. It takes the wise to accept this realisation. I am sure the selected few quotations listed below from this book will enlighten you to one or two life lessons. Read and enjoy:
CONCLAVE – THE POWER OF GOD. THE AMBITION OF MEN. by Robert Harris
“In fact, the piazza was unusually quiet, apart from a solitary ambulance parked a discreet distance away, silhouetted against the floodlit southern flank of St Peter’s. Its interior light was on, the windscreen wipers scudding back and forth, close enough for him to be able to make out the faces of both the driver and his assistant. The driver was using a mobile phone, and Lomeli thought with a shock: they haven’t come to take a sick man to the hospital, they’ve come to take away a body.”
“…. The elevator lurched to an abrupt halt but his stomach seemed to go on rising, and he had to grip the metal handrail to steady himself. He remembered riding with the Holy Father in this very car early in his papacy when two elderly monsignors had got in. Immediately they had fallen to their knees, stunned to find themselves face-to-face with Christ’s representative on earth, at which the Pope had laughed and said, ‘Don’t worry, get up. I’m just an old sinner, no better than you ……”
“……. ‘Some are chosen to be shepherds, and others are needed to manage the farm. Yours is not a pastoral role. You are not a shepherd. You are a manager. Do you think it’s easy for me? I need you here. Don’t worry. God will return to you. He always does’ ………”
” ……Despite the hour, his appearance was fresh and handsome, his thick silver hair immaculately coiffed, his body trim and carried lightly. He looked like a retired athlete who had made a successful transition to television sports presenter: Lomeli vaguely remembered that he had played ice hockey in his youth. ……… “
