HomeARC ML 1016
THE HMS MWM!--Our Dream Boat!--By Father David DFO 1016 18/4/81
1. AMEN, PTL! I SLEPT SO GOOD & HAD SUCH A BEAUTIFUL DREAM OF STRINGS OF PEARLS! String of pearls & a pearl antenna, what would you call it?--The spider's web? We've already got one of those, haven't we? Amen. TYL! This is the morning of the 18th of April 1981. That number reads the same in either direction, one-eight-four-eight one forward, or one-eight-four-eight-one backwards, beautifully balanced, huh? (Maria: Uh-huh!) Just like that antenna was.--PYL! TYL!
2. IT WAS SHAPED LIKE A BOAT ANTENNA, ISN'T THAT FUNNY? I've been praying about what to do with MWM & where to take them safely, & I certainly hope that doesn't mean they're going to have to live on a boat! I don't think that's very safe. Maybe they could be a pirate radio station, huh?
3. IT WAS SHAPED ALSO LIKE A CROSS, YOU KNOW? That's the way those boat antennas are shaped sometimes. Well, they would have to be shaped that way because they're attached to the mast. You know, there's a big tall mast & there's a crosspiece near the top that makes it look like a cross. And the antenna runs from the deck up to one end, of the crossarm & then up to the top of the mast, then down to the other end of the crossarm & back down to the deck again.
4. AND THERE WAS ONE OF THE MWM CREW AT EACH OF THESE POINTS including the cross where the crossmember was, right in the centre. It was sort of like a spider's web too, you know? 'Cause it had these strings of pearls going out from the centre where the crossmember crossed the mast & where dear Simon Peter was.
5. HE WAS THERE RIGHT AT THE CENTRE OF EVERYTHING, up at the centre of the mast & the crossarm. I don't know what they call that, there's a name for all those things on ships, they've got names for everything. And he was sort of like pulling the strings of the cords & the wires or whatever it is that were strung with all these beautiful pearls!
6. THERE WAS ONE STRING THAT WENT RIGHT UP TO THE TOP OF THE MAST & THERE WAS JEREMY SPENCER sittin' there crosslegged on top of the mast holding on to the strings. And then there's another string going out to the tip of the crossbar to the right & there was Michael sittin' there pulling strings, strings of pearls! I suppose the strings of pearls represent their music, that's what I figure it must be--strings of musical pearls!
7. AND THEN OVER TO THE LEFT, THE OTHER TIP OF THE CROSSMEMBER, WAS PAUL MICHAEL, OUR OTHER CHIEF MUSICIAN. Don't misunderstand me, there weren't any cross members in this crew, a crossmember means a crossarm, I should say. There's not any cross bars either, we only have sweet bars of music. But anyway, I mean it was shaped like a cross, for there was this beam across the top. And then down below on deck were the girls holding onto the strings of pearls--strings of pearls, pretty girls! Hallelujah!
8. IT ALL JUST SEEMED TO FLOW TOGETHER SO BEAUTIFULLY! It was so pretty I just kept watching & watching it! They were all working like crew members on a ship, you know, pulling the ropes & cords & everything. And the whole rigging was shaped like a huge cross, I guess that's symbolic of the message of Jesus & His cross. PG! "The cross of Christ towering over the wrecks of time!"
9. BUT THIS SHIP WASN'T ANY WRECK, thank the Lord! It wasn't wrecked, it was a beautiful kind of a boat! And the various other MWM crew members were running around pulling ropes & tending to things & very very busy just like they are making their music & everything. And it was just a beautiful picture!
10. AND DEAR SIMON PETER LOOKED LIKE A BIG BLACK SPIDER SITTING IN THE MIDDLE, 'cause he usually does wear kind of dark clothes, you know? And he's got dark hair & those dark eyes, & he was sitting in the middle with that beautiful smile of his almost like he was amused, having fun pulling the ropes from the centre up there near the top of the mast, pulling the ropes & pulling these beautiful strings of pearls of words & music!
11. IT REMINDS ME OF THAT BEAUTIFUL BEAUTIFUL SONG BY GLEN MILLER, "STRING OF PEARLS"! That's the kind of music, our MWM plays, beautiful music, gorgeous music, never heard such pretty music! We have the most beautiful radio show in the World & the most beautiful people! And now we're going to have the most beautiful video in the World, & they're going to be able to see all you beautiful people! TYL! You like'm Family? I love'm! Aren't they gorgeous?!
12. STRINGS OF PEARLS WITH A CROSS OF PEARLS WITH A PEARLY CREW! They weren't going through the pearly gates yet, TTL! But they were all very busy on this sailboat with this cross-shaped mast & these cords of pearls strung around the mast from the ship to the top & down again & radiating out from Simon Peter at the centre, just like he was the heart & the soul of the show, the centre of the cross.
13. I'LL TELL YOU, IT REALLY TAKES CRUCIFIXION TO BE A LEADER--LIKE JESUS! Simon was right there on the cross in the middle with his arms outstretched pulling on the cords. And from all I've heard of his life & testimony, it really has been a life of suffering & crucifixion & sacrifice.
14. AND OF COURSE THAT'S WHAT BRINGS OUT THE SWEETNESS IN PEOPLE. The sorrow, the suffering, the sacrifice & sadness brings out the best in them, the sweetness, the compassion, the love, the tenderness, the brokenness, the love & concern for others, the desire to give them the answer that we've found to solve all their problems--Jesus!
15. THERE HE WAS PULLING THESE BEAUTIFUL STRINGS OF PEARLS, sort of like he was pulling them out of these people, in a way, pulling all that beautiful music out of them like the director of an orchestra. And that's what he is in a way, he's a director of an orchestra, the MWM Orchestra! He was orchestrating it all, beautifully, from the centre there pulling the pearls this way & that from the various musicians & singers & crew members etc.
16. LITTLE SOLOMON WAS THERE AT THE BASE OF THE MAST WITH HIS DRUMS, sittin' there cross-legged playing his drums like a little Indian, & the girls playing the violins. Everybody was on deck at the end of a string of pearls that radiated out from the centre or was radiating in from each musician, singer, player to the centre.
17. I GUESS IT KIND OF GOES BOTH WAYS, DOESN'T IT? The inspiration comes from the centre, from the Lord, from His cross, & it's sort of directed by the one who founded it all, had the inspiration and the vision, the faith, the burden, initiative to start it rollin' & is orchestrating it, Simon Peter, & he kind of pulls it out of the musicians & feeds them the ropes at the same time, hands'm a line.
18. HE FEEDS THEM THE CORDS, BRINGS OUT THE PEARLS & orchestrates the beautiful network of lines like a spider's web that radiates the beautiful music & broadcasts it from this antenna of pearls throughout the whole World! And they all live together on one ship & they're all on deck busy for the Lord!--I think that was a pretty picture! Don't you? (Maria: Uh-huh! Beautiful!)
19. I JUST HOPE IT DOESN'T MEAN THEY REALLY HAVE TO LIVE ON A REAL SHIP! I've had some sad experiences with boats. Sure would solve their housing problem though, wouldn't it? One nice big boat that would hold 50 people & they could sail away from Greece far beyond the sea! PTL! TTL!
20. EVERYBODY WAS THERE, I can't remember everybody's name, but all the crew members, Abishai too & all the girls & the women & the children & everybody. I was just trying to remember the ones that I could remember seeing. Everybody was there, everybody! Everybody was doing something. Hallelujah! TYL!
21. (SINGS:) "SIMON, SIMON I'VE BEEN THINKING, what a nice World this will be, if MWM were all transported far beyond the Southern Sea! Simon, Simon I've been thinking what a nice World this would be, if MWM were all transported far beyond some Southern Sea!" PTL! Hallelujah! TYJ! Amen?
22. I DON'T BELIEVE THAT MEANS YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO LOOK AROUND FOR A BOAT NOW, but we will have to look around for some kind of a ship to get you there across the sea somewhere out of the war zone. (Sings:) "Somewhere over the rainbow, you will see. Somewhere over the rainbow, you & me!" XXXXXXX! I love you all! God bless you! PTL!
23. WE'VE GOT TO FIND SOME WAY TO GET YOU ACROSS THE OCEAN TO SOME SOUTHERN CLIME. Where would you like to go best? South America, South Africa or Australia? You've got to kind of figure on your nationalities & your passports where most of you could most easily stay.
24. MAYBE YOU COULD GO TO PUERTO RICO & WORK WITH SPANISH MWM!--I mean Spanish MWM could work with you & make it all one! Or there are lots of other little isles right nearby you could run back & forth to. That would be a good place! And you'd near other Family units there. PTL! TYJ!
25. WELL, I'M STILL KIND OF SLEEPY, I JUST WOKE UP. I'm lying here in bed still half asleep, & Maria's got the tape recorder here in her hand resting on the pillow while I'm lying here with my eyes shut so I can still see the dream, how beautiful it was!
26. WHAT A BEAUTIFUL CREW WITH THE CROSS-BOAT, not a crossbow that kills but a cross-boat that saves, PTL? Hallelujah? TYJ! And it's a sailboat too, because it had tall masts, & that means we depend upon the energy of the Spirit, the wind that blows! PG! (Sings:)
27. "OH, A CAPITAL SHIP FOR AN OCEAN TRIP WAS THE MUSIC WITH MEANING SHOW!" That's an old tune I used to know, I think I forgot it, but: (Sings:) "No wind that blew dismayed her crew nor troubled the Captain's mind. The man at wheel was made to feel contempt for the wildest blow-o-o! But oft it appeared when the gale had cleared that he'd been in his bunk below! Oh, blow you winds high-ho! A-roving we will go! We'll stay no more on this here shore, so let the music play!"
28. ANYHOW, I GUESS THAT IS MWM, the beautiful sailing vessel HMS MWM with its beautiful crew & its pearly lines & its cross-shaped mast & powered by the energy of the wind, the Spirit! Isn't that a beautiful picture? Can you see it? Isn't that pretty? All the crewmembers all over up in the rigging & each place & down on the deck & everybody busy manipulating the lines. And I guess that funny old guy sittin' back there at the backend at the wheel must have been me.--At the tiller trying to kind of guide it. PTL! Hallelujah! TYL! XXXXXXX!
29. (TO MARIA:) I LOVE YOU, HONEY. YOU'RE MY INSPIRATION, ALONG WITH THE LORD! Of course He's most of my inspiration, but you're a lot of it, Honey. He gives it to you & you give it to me. You're my First Mate. I'm the captain & you're the First Mate! XXX! Actually you're my second mate, but the first one left, so now you're First Mate! And I have a lot of other mates too, lots of pretty girls. We've got First Mate, Second Mate, Third Mate & it goes on down through thousands! PTL! Hallelujah! There must be at least 4,000 girls in the Family, all my mates! Hallelujah! TYJ! What a vessel! What a crew! Hallelujah! TYJ! Wotta trip!
30. IT WAS LIKE THAT TALL CROSS-SHAPED MAST WAS THE CENTREPIECE OF THE VESSEL & the rigging was all these strings of pearls like your music. And all the deck hands were the musicians & the technicians & the helpers & the cameramen & the wives & the children & the businessmen, secretaries & everybody. What a crew, huh? What a shapely ship for an ocean trip. PTL! Hallelujah! TYL!
31. (SINGS:) "OH BLOW YOU WINDS HIGH-HO, A-ROVING WE WILL GO! We'll stay no more on Grecian shore, so let the music play!--I'm off on the morning train across the raging main! I'm off to my love--with a box & a glove ten thousand miles away!" or something like that. Well, at least five thousand.--Ha!
32. WHETHER YOU GO TO SOUTH AMERICA, SOUTH AFRICA OR SOUTH AUSTRALIA, IT'S ABOUT FIVE OR SIX THOUSAND MILES any direction from where you are! You guys are right on the shipping lanes there. Good-night, there's enough of you guys you could almost charter an ocean liner! That might be a hint as to how to get there. If we can get all of you as passengers on one big boat we might make a pretty good deal!
33. THE ONLY PROBLEM WITH SOUTH AFRICA & AUSTRALIA, they're so hard to get into & hard to stay. South Africans & Australians are kind of particular about their visitors & immigrants for some reason, I don't know why they should be. They've got oodles of room in both of them & plenty of problems in both of them. I don't know why they have to be so persnickety. They used to welcome immigrants & now they don't seem to want them anymore. Seems like South America is the only open door.
34. WELL, WE'LL SEE WHAT THE LORD DOES! Maybe you ought to start looking around for a boat to hold all of you & your equipment & maybe a few of your vans & caravans & all your musical instruments & all of your recording equipment, your musical studio & your mast & the strings of pearls & crewmembers with that old captain & his First Mate at the tiller. PTL! Wish I could be there! Hallelujah! I'd love to see & be with you!--XXXXXXX! Give you seven kisses anyway! TYJ! PTL!
35. WELL LORD, YOU KNOW ALL ABOUT IT! You gave me that beautiful dream that was so sweet & I was enjoying it & just loved watching all the pretty rigging all made of strings of pearls & a beautiful cross & all the crew members running around pulling on the strings & manipulating the strings & weaving, those beautiful strings of pearls, that lovely music! Hallelujah! And the music radiating from all that rigging of the beautiful cross-shaped antenna radiating to all the World!
36. YOU KNOW, I WAS JUST THINKING THAT SIMON PETER'S GRANDFATHERS WERE ALL SHIP CAPTAINS! He came from a whole long line of ship captains, his great grandfather, & great-great grandfather way back, they were all ship captains! So, now he's a ship captain, he's sailing the "HMS MWM"! Hallelujah! "His Majesty's Ship, Music With Meaning!" PG! And he's captain of the ship. He's really the captain.
37. I GUESS IN A WAY I & THE LORD ARE THE SHIP OWNERS, HUH? We're the ship operators. You know every ship has to have an Owner, I guess that's the Lord. Then it has to have an Operator, I guess that's me. Then it has to have a Captain & I guess that's really Simon. (Maria: Well, but you were the captain.) OK. Alright. Well, it seems like Simon ought to be the Captain. (Maria: No,no,no!) I want to make him the Captain. (Maria: No, the Lord showed you in that picture you were the captain.)
38. OK, YOU WERE THE FIRST MATE & I GUESS MAYBE SIMON IS THE PILOT. (Maria: OK, that's good.) He can be the Pilot. He was manipulating all the strings & the people, the crew members & giving them orders & telling them what to do so he's kind of an important man under the Captain & the First Mate. PTL. The "HMS MWM"! His Majesty's Ship MWM!
39. (SINGS:) "OH, A CAPITAL SHIP FOR AN OCEAN TRIP WAS THE 'HMS MWM'!" That could fit in there maybe. PTL! "No wind that blew dismayed her crew, nor troubled the Captain's mind. The man at the wheel was made to feel contempt for the wildest blow-o-o! But oft it appeared when the gale had cleared he'd been in his bunk below! Oh, blow you winds high-ho, a-roving we will go! We'll stay no more on Grecian shore so let the music play-a-y!" Hey! I think that's in the original song! "So let the music play-a-y!"--Ha! PTL!
40. "I'M OFF FOR THE MORNING TRAIN, ACROSS THE RAGING MAIN! I'm off to my love with His message of love, thousands of miles away!" PTL. Maybe you guys can polish it up a little bit. It can be one of your theme songs for your new ship, the "HMS MWM"! (Sings:) "HMS MWM, HMS MWM, HMS MWM, HMS MWM!" "HMS"--sounds like HM--mess, doesn't it? Sometimes you are a mess and most of the time I am a mess! (Sings:)
41. "HMS MWM, HMS MWM, HMS MWM, HIS MAJESTY'S SHIP, MUSIC WITH MEANING!" Maria is over here just laughing & laughing at me, she thinks I'm funny! What are you laughing about? (Maria: Ha, ha! You are!) I can't help it, that's just the way it came! It pops in my head & pops out my mouth. And almost everything that pops in my head pops out my mouth. PTL! Hallelujah! TYJ! HM-mess, HM-mess!
42. I THINK THAT WAS A BEAUTIFUL DREAM! (Maria: Oh, I do too!) And I was just thinking about it & that little song popped in my head. I think it was from the "HMS Pinafore" one of the famous old musicals. What were those guy's names that wrote all those musicals? But I gave it a slight modification. PTL! I'm sure you Britishers will remember, particularly Simon, the names of those fellows who wrote those musicals, one of which was the "HMS Pinafore". (Gilbert & Sullivan?)
43. I THINK THAT WAS THE SONG FROM THE "PINAFORE." A pinafore was also kind of a dress wasn't it? Pinafore? (Maria: Yes.) So you see, you women are all included, along with the children. You were all crew members busily helping operate the ship. PTL! So, keep a tight ship & a tidy ship. PTL! GBYA! TYJ!
44. LORD, DO BLESS THEM & KEEP'M & HELP'M TO RUN THE SHIP RIGHT & keep it tight & tidy & on an even keel & to sail cautiously between the rocks & across the waves guided, Lord, by Thy Own Self, Thy Spirit, Thy winds, & helped by all of our hands. Lord help it to sail the right direction according to Thy will & to pull the right ropes of pearls to make it operate properly & to disseminate the right message, Lord, radiating Thy beautiful music & Gospel throughout the World from its cross-shaped antenna. PTL! Hallelujah!
45. TYL FOR THAT BEAUTIFUL PICTURE SO ENCOURAGING, when I was worried about them & praying for them. Lord, You know, & You gave me that beautiful picture this morning before I woke up, about them sailing along across the sea in this beautiful sailing, vessel with a cross-shaped antenna & ropes of pearls, & busy crew members radiating from that antenna of pearls that pretty music to all the World in Thy love! Hallelujah! TYJ! PYL! In Jesus' name.
46. BLESS & KEEP'M SAFELY, LORD, & GUIDE THEM TO A SAFE HARBOUR, in Jesus' name we ask it for Thy glory. Amen. PTL! TYL! Amen. TYJ! PTL! Hallelujah. In Jesus' name amen, Lord. (Sings:) "Oh, I've anchored my soul in the Haven of Rest & I'll sail the wild sea no more! The tempest may sweep o'er the wild stormy deep, in Jesus we're safe evermore!"
47. BUT YOU'RE GOING TO HAVE TO DO SOME SAILING FOR THE LORD before you get to that Heavenly harbour you're going to! (Sings:) "My soul in sad exile sailed out on life's sea so driven by winds & distressed! But I heard a sweet voice saying 'Make Me your choice!' In Jesus thou art safe evermore! I've anchored my soul in His Haven of Rest, we'll sail the wild sea no more! The tempest may sweep o'er the wild stormy deep. In Jesus' we're safe evermore!"
48. BUT THAT ISN'T THE RIGHT PICTURE because this ship was sailing over the wild stormy deep in the tempest & busy busy for the Lord, & not just anchored in a safe haven. That sounds more like the churches. I've got to think of a better one than that. There's another one but I can't quite get all the words to it.
49. (SINGS:) "OUR LIFE LIKE A SAILOR'S SAIL THROUGH THE NIGHT SEASONS". I can't remember it. "With Christ as our Captain...With Jesus as our Helmsman". That used to be sung by that famous old Scandinavian singer, what was his name? Remember? Ah, he was such a beautiful Swedish singer! And then of course the Swedes & the Scandinavians & Norwegians & all, they were always singing about ships because they were such a great seafaring people.--The British too! There are so many old hymns about sailing! PTL! Hallelujah! TYL!
50. WELL, NOW YOU'RE SAILING THE "HMS MWM"! PTL! You're Piloting, I'm Captaining the ship, Simon Peter, PG? TYL! I want to make Simon Peter the Captain, Honey! After all, it's his ship in a way. Well, along with the Lord, really, & I'm the Operator?--OK, I'm the Captain & you're the First Mate. PTL anyhow, & you all are my crew, our crew, the Lord's crew, the "HMS MWM" crew, & let's pray for fair weather & blue skies & quiet seas & beautiful music! PTL? Amen!
51. BUT I WOULD RATHER SIMON PETER WOULD BE THE CAPTAIN because he came from a long line of ship captains, & seagoing makes me a bit seasick sometimes! But I do love to sail aboard ships! It's such a nice quiet, usually quiet life & usually very interesting. You're like one family aboard one boat, & we sure are one Family all in the same boat! PG! Thank the Lord for our Owner & wise Operator, the Lord! TYJ!
52. WELL, MAYBE I AM THE CAPTAIN, you're certainly my First Mate, that's for sure! GBY, I love you, Honey! (Maria: I love you too.) And I'm trustin' Simon Peter as the Pilot, & the crew to really do a good job. God bless'm all, & they do! TYJ! PTL! Hallelujah! Amen. Well, maybe we'll add some more to that later if we get anything more from the Lord.
53. THERE YOU ARE, THERE'S THE "HMS MWM", now you gotta figure out how to sail it from where you are to where you need to be, PTL! Amen? GBYA! ILY! Heave-ho! Heave-ho! Heave-ho my hearty sailors! GBYA! Ship ahoy! PTL! Bon-voyage, in Jesus' name! Amen! Cast off!--Launch out into the deep, let the shore line go!
54. P.S. YOU KNOW, THAT WOULD MAKE A GREAT BACKGROUND & PROGRAMMC THEME for one of your videos! You could have background scenery of a ship & its mast & rigging & wheel & you'd all look so pretty, Simon Peter dressed up nice & strong & tall in an officer's uniform, & the musicians & the girls all dressed in sailor's bikinis, & the kids could all have on little sailor outfits, & the stage could look like the deck of the "HMS MWM"!--And have everything nautical--not naughty, but nautical.
55. WOULDN'T THAT MAKE A GOOD MWM VIDEO SHOW? Hallelujah! (Maria: Amen! Great!) That'd be beautiful! It might be a little difficult painting all that scenery on the wall or on wallpaper or gettin' the costumes & all, but we could re-use it quite a few times & have some nautical numbers time & again!
56. WELL IT'S JUST A CRAZY IDEA FOR YOU! I get lots of really crazy ideas in my dreams. But it really encouraged me, it was beautiful in my dream! There's our dream boat!--The HMS MWM! Hallelujah! PG! Well, that'd make a good title for this Letter maybe, huh? "Our Dream Boat!--The HMS MWM"! Ha! Hallelujah! TYJ! PTL!--Are you ready? Don't miss the Boat!
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