July 22 | Moments Almanac | Voyage

Welcome to Moments Almanac for July 22nd. This is a time for us to remember the people, places, and events that leave fingerprints on the soul. And on this day in 1620, a small ship eases away from the quay at Delfthaven in Holland. Its tails catch the wind, and the faces on shore begin to disappear into the morning mist. A company of English exiles stands on the deck, leaving behind the only refuge they had known for twelve years. They had fled England because the established church left them no freedom to worship according to conscience. In the Dutch city of Leiden, they found safety, but not quite home. After the years passed, they watched their children speak Dutch more fluently than English and slowly drift from the customs that had shaped their faith. So they made an astonishing decision. They would leave the familiar once again and sail across the ocean toward a place they had never seen. Before they boarded, their beloved pastor John Robinson gathered them on the quay. He knelt and prayed with them. Then he left them with the words that would echo throughout history The Lord hath more truth and light yet to break forth out of his holy word. Those who witnessed the farewell said there was more weeping than triumph that morning. The little ship carrying them was called the Speedwell. It would eventually prove unseaworthy, forcing the passengers to transfer to another vessel that we know much better, the Mayflower. But on this July day, none of that had yet unfolded. They simply stepped forward in faith. They called themselves pilgrims and strangers on the earth, borrowing the language of Hebrews because they understood something we often forget. Sometimes faith begins with saying goodbye. Now travel ahead three hundred and thirteen years. July twenty second, nineteen thirty three, another traveler arrives in New York, though this one descends from the sky instead of across the sea. His name is Wiley Post. Nearly fifty thousand people surge through barricades just to witness his landing. He has become the first person in history to fly solo around the world, circling the globe in seven days, eighteen hours and forty nine minutes. Post flew a purple and white Lockheed Vega called the Winnie May. It carried one of the first practical autopilots and a radio direction finder. He trusted those instruments through storms, exhaustion, and even a bent propeller that miners repaired for him in the Alaskan wilderness. Where the pilgrims had a pastor's prayer and weather charts, Wiley Post had every instrument human ingenuity could build. Yet both stepped into the same mystery. Neither could see beyond the next horizon. That's worth sitting with for a while. Most of us live somewhere between those two journeys. We thank God for maps, medicine, education, careful planning, wise counsel, and every good tool he places into our hands. Faith is never an excuse for carelessness. But neither are those things sturdy enough to carry the full weight of a life. The writer of Hebrews says of Abraham, By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go, not knowing where he was going. That's always been the rhythm of faith, hasn't it? Not knowing, yet going. The pilgrims trusted God's promise beyond what their charts could tell them. Wiley Post trusted his instruments enough to leave the ground. Both remind us that every worthwhile journey begins before the questions have been answered. Perhaps you have your own Delft's haven this week. Perhaps you're standing on the shoreline looking toward the future you cannot fully see. Maybe you're making a difficult decision, beginning a new chapter, grieving an ending, or simply taking the next faithful step. You may not have every answer. You probably never will. But faith has never required perfect certainty. It simply asks us to keep walking toward the one who already knows the way. As generations of pilgrims have sung, guide me, O thou great redeemer, pilgrim through this barren land. I am weak, but thou art mighty. Hold me with thy powerful hand. Bread of heaven, bread of heaven, feed me till I want no more, feed me till I want no more. Well that's scattered moments for July 22nd. Until next time, take heart. Notice the scattered moments and share the grace.