The sky is overcast, but bright from the sun’s glow above the clouds. The ship is now some seventeen hundred miles from the west coast of Africa since our departure from Tenerife last weekend. Just three more days and we are scheduled to arrive at Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale. This time upon the sea has been blessed with opportunities to reflect and renew in ways so unexpected when we departed the familiar space of the farm house just eleven days ago. As I stopped to reflect upon what I had been reading while relaxing in the magnificence of the ships library on the precipice of the deck that encompasses eleven or more stories, I couldn’t help but envision analogies to the content of the book at hand. Nabeel Qureshi, in his book “No God but One Allah or Jesus” was telling the story of God’s love so deep for his creation that he took upon himself the blight that separates us in our brokenness from full communion with our creator. That reading gave me pause to remember and reflect that I am made whole in the eyes of my creator who loves me with a love that never ends. As an unexpected host to Parkinson’s I have to replenish the depleted dopamine in my system by routinely consuming my medication that brings me back closer to restoration. Likewise, I am reminded today that I must thoughtfully and spiritually ingest the eternal truth of God’s everlasting love that takes me closer to living the “restored life” made possible through God himself. Gratitude builds the foundation upon which this thankful soul is renewed in the knowledge that it is He and not me who makes all things whole!