From the Pastor at Trinity!

In the days before modern harbors, ships had to wait for the flood tide before it could make it to port. The term for this situation in Latin was "ob portu." The English word opportunity is derived from this term. The captain and the crew were ready and waiting for that moment, for they knew that if they missed it, they would have to wait for the next tide to come in.

Shakespeare, the famed poet and play writer, took the original meaning of this term and turned it into one of his most famous passages:

There is a tide in the affairs of men; which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;

Omitted, all the voyage of their life is bound in shallows and miseries.

On such a full sea are we now afloat; And we must take the current when it serves,

Or lose our ventures.

To be sure there have been opportune times when we could have used our God-given talents more productively than we did because of the fact we did not take advantage of them. But be that as it may, there are still plenty more opportunities awaiting us to glorify the Lord and to help build up the faith of our neighbor. Since this is the case, and as Shakespeare so eloquently encourages us, like ships of the past, we need to make the most of those "flood tides," especially the ones that seek to make an eternal difference in our lives and that of others. And as we do, without a doubt, God will honor our efforts and reward us with the richest of heaven's blessings.

With Love, for and from Jesus,

Pastor David