In May 1992, having just graduated from the Enlisted Bandleader Course, I was sent to
Navy Band New Orleans. I was delighted that one of my best mates from Navy Band San
Francisco was there, along with others I knew after ten-plus years as an MU (Musician). Sadly,
Gary and his wife were being transferred to Italy. But he had brokered a little deal with the
detailer, that after 2-3 years, he could come back to New Orleans to finish his Naval career.
They also didn’t want to sell their house, so they asked if we would like to be
caretakers/renters of their home. It was the biggest place, an actual house, that the three of
us had lived in to date
.
Now, there was an interesting…quirk to their home. You see, Gary had painted their
backyard fence in three colors: green, purple, and yellow. Mardi Gras colors. It just so
happened that their house was on the incoming landing pattern for planes flying into Naval
Air Station Belle Chasse. You guessed it. Pilots used the fence as a reference point. A
navigational beacon.

There have been many in my life. Remember when we got to where we were going by
identifying landmarks? Whether traveling by water using lighthouses, buoys, and channel
markers; by air using Mardi Gras-colored fences, or by highway using road signs and buildings,
we would be quite lost without navigational beacons. Each of us has a spiritual North Star,
connected with an emotional place of safe harbor. With all of the craziness a-stir in this post-
modern society, it is crucial to our mental well-being to have a higher power, a compass, a
GPS (God’s Positioning System) to guide us to our true home. That is with the blessed Trinity.
A creating Parent, a guiding Spirit, and a befriending Son, the combination of which will never
lead us astray. Unconditional love is the tailwind, the downstream, the gas in the engine for
our journey.

Pastor Art