Elisabeth Elliot: Your Heavenly Father knows what you need today. That's what the Bible says. He does know your need. If He is withholding it, it's not because He is stingy. It's not because He doesn't love you. It's because He wants you to learn the shelter of His own presence and those everlasting arms.

Lisa Barry: Aren't those comforting words? If you're in a situation right now where you might be questioning God's love for you, today's message is for you. All this week Elisabeth has been taking us on 15-minute journeys to overseas countries. The underlying message through it all has been that God can take you safely through your own life journey, if you just leave the controls to Him.

Today Elisabeth concludes this series with an interesting account of a ride on a lobster boat in the waters off of Massachusetts. It's a delightful way to end this week-long journey. Then I'll be back in just a few minutes to let you know how you can purchase a copy of this series. For now, let's get started with this Friday edition of Gateway To Joy. Here's Elisabeth.

Elisabeth Elliot: "You are loved with an everlasting love." That's what the Bible says. "And underneath are the everlasting arms." This is your friend Elisabeth Elliot, continuing my talks on journeys with God. Today I have a very different kind of a journey to tell you about. But before I launch into that little story, so different from Taiwan and Hong Kong and Mongolia, this is a quotation from Dietrich Von Hildebrand, who says, "He who possesses humility derives from his confrontation with God not only an awareness of his nothingness and obscurity, but a keen experience of his dependence as well; a being sheltered by Him."

I wanted to pass that on to you, because it has meant so much to me to be sheltered by my Heavenly Father. Your Heavenly Father knows what you need today. That's what the Bible says. He does know your need. If He is withholding it, it's not because He is stingy. It's not because He doesn't love you. It's because He wants you to learn the shelter of His own presence and those everlasting arms. So if we possess humility, we will derive this from learning to know God-not only an awareness of our own nothingness and obscurity, but a keen experience of our dependence on God as well.

All through this week's talks I've been telling you about the ways in which God has led us so faithfully, so flawlessly, even though there were times that we felt as though everything had fallen apart, like the time when we overlooked the fact that in order to get to Taiwan we had to cross an international date line. So we arrived in Taiwan one whole day later than we were supposed to. But God overruled even in that. So I felt that we are being sheltered by Him. Sometimes I simply pray, "Help me in my helplessness, loving Father."

Someone is perhaps listening to me today who is absolutely at the end of his rope, just feeling as though there is no place to turn, nowhere to go. I recommend to you Jesus Christ. Turn to Him. God is the ruler of the universe. He knows all about your problem.

Well, I'm going to tell you about a very different kind of a journey and it's one not at all far from where we live. We live on the coast of Massachusetts in a little tiny town called Magnolia, that you'd probably have a hard time finding on your map. But two years ago I had a phone call from a man named Ronald Kern. Ronald was in deep grief because he, a man probably 40 years old or so, had lost his twin brother. I can't even imagine what it's like to have a twin, but you who are twins certainly can identify with how difficult-how utterly devastating it must be to lose a twin brother. It would be very hard to lose any kind of a brother, let alone a twin.

So the reason he had called was because he actually listens to Gateway To Joy, another one of those surprises-to find out that there are actually lobster fishermen who listen to Gateway to Joy. He told me of his grief, but then he said, "Have you ever been out in a lobster boat?" I said, "No. We watch them all the time. They come by our house. We see them practically every day, except in the middle of winter, pulling their pots." He said, "Well, I've got a boat. Would you like to go out sometime?" I said, "We'd love it." He said, "Do you have any children?" I said, "Well, I have grandchildren who come from California to visit me." He said, "Well, why don't we go out sometime and we'll take the children, too." So I said, "Well, I'll let you know when the children come."

But he didn't call again. Two years went by, and this past summer he called. He said, "Hi, it's Ron Kern. How about a trip on a lobster boat?" So we did it. We had three grandchildren with us. We had Elisabeth, the oldest who is eighteen. We had Colleen who is 11, and we had Theo, who is five.

We drove to Beverly here in Massachusetts and then met him there and went on to Marblehead. Marblehead is a beautiful town and it is rather famous because it is from there that the America's Cup Races either begin or end, I'm not sure which. Ron had brought along donuts and hot cocoa. I thought that was so thoughtful of a single man. He is single. He has never been married. There he was, just delighted to have us. We went to Marblehead because he had a friend there who had a bigger boat and a nicer boat, so he wanted us to go out on the bigger boat.

It was a beautiful summer day, very nippy when you get out on the Ocean, even though the sun is shining. The boat was immaculately clean. So I began to take a few notes on what was going on. I didn't understand all the things that he had told us, but he first of all explained to the children what a lobster pot is. Of course, the whole deck was stacked with lobster traps, otherwise called pots, and they were made of wood. Now many of the pots are made of plastic-coated wire, but Ron explained to us that he didn't believe that the lobsters really liked to go into plastic-coated wire traps, but they did like wood better. So although wood is much heavier of course to haul and much more expensive than plastic-coated wire, that's what his traps were made of.

He pointed out that there is an entrance that the lobster has to go into. Then there is what some lobstermen call the parlor, where they first go in, and then there's another section inside where the bait is. That's called the kitchen. It doesn't take the lobster very long to realize that there's nothing to eat in the parlor and he soon finds his way into the kitchen. I don't think Ron used those terms.

He also showed us how the lobster pots were drawn up by a hydraulic hauler. Of course, when there were lobsters in the pot, they took them out. They were wearing rubber gloves and they had an amazing little implement which puts the rubber bands on the lobster claws. I always wondered how that worked. I don't suppose very many of you eat lobsters at home very often. Of course, if you eat them in the restaurant, then the rubber bands have been taken off. But you've got to be careful of those huge claws. They could break your finger. Lobstermen know exactly how to grab them from behind. Then he put the rubber bands on them with just one deft motion.

He pointed out to us that there are two different kinds of claws. Each lobster has a crusher and a ripper. The crusher of course is the bigger one; the ripper is the smaller one. They're used by the lobster to crush his prey.

So then Ron took out the bait and either added to it or threw it back in, if it was still usable. At one point, a very strange-looking creature was brought out of the pot. Ron threw it down on the deck. It was a sea robin. Now I had seen a sea robin probably fifty years ago. I don't think I'd seen one since. Theo, my five-year-old, was absolutely fascinated. It is one of the ugliest creatures you've ever seen in your life.

Lars asked Ron what he does with these creatures that they don't really want. "Do you just knock them in the head and throw them overboard?" Ron explained, "No. We don't knock them on the head anymore, because we believe that these are creatures that God made and there must be a purpose for it. So we throw them back in. They haven't been damaged by coming up in the pot." So he took them out and humanely put them back where they belong without knocking them on the head.

We had all kinds of questions that we were asking. One of my questions was always, "How many traps are attached to one buoy?" When we look out of our windows, we can see literally hundreds of lobster buoys of different colors. Each color represents a different owner. I didn't know how many pots or traps might be attached to each buoy. He said, "Well, there may be as many as twenty. Sometimes there's only one."

It's really amazing. It's a lot of hard work that they do. I had no idea how hard the work was until we went on this fascinating trip with Ron Kern. Thanks, Ron, if you're listening today for taking us out. I'm sure that we will never forget that journey.

Lisa Barry: I'm sure we won't forget it, either, because the visions are etched on our minds. As I've been listening all this week, it's made me think about the importance of journaling. I know some of you do it regularly and some of you do it sporadically, like I do. But just think about how much detail we might have missed from those journeys if Elisabeth hadn't been writing down vivid descriptions of what she saw. It's easy to take for granted now, but those memories would have faded quickly over time. How much of your life is fading from memory because it's not written down?

My tendency is to assume an event was so impactful that I'd never forget it in a million years. But of course, that isn't the way it happens. Make a deliberate choice today to buy an inexpensive notebook and just keep it by your bed. When you retire at night, take five minutes to write down some happenings and funny stories of the day. You'll cherish it forever and so will your kids.

As we close for today, I'd like to encourage you to call and ask for a Gateway To Joy Book and Tape Catalog, if you don't already have one. It's a great way to get a hold of the books that Elisabeth has mentioned on the air. You'll also find many of the popular cassette series that have been featured over the years.

Here's the phone number to get a copy: 1-800-759-4JOY. That's 1-800-759-4569. Or you can write to us at Gateway To Joy, Box 82500, Lincoln, Nebraska, 68501. Our Internet ministry address is gatewaytojoy.org. Gateway To Joy has been a production of Back to the Bible.

Monday Elisabeth talks about some common tests of endurance. Maybe you're going through one right now. Find out more next time on Gateway To Joy.