North Sea Observatory

Ah, the land of eternal sunshine. I came on Sunday evening after our service, and the morrow's weather did not disappoint. So where am I, pray tell? Iberia? The Sultanate of Morocco? No, the shire of Lincoln: flat, fertile and sunny. And to where does one head on such a day? The coast, of course, while calling at as many old churches as my hosts were prepared to suffer. At Chapel St Leonards is the North Sea Observatory, a rather modern-looking building with sloped windows offering excellent views of the sandy beaches, windfarms and seascape beyond.

One room within was dedicated to National Coastwatch; I observed several uniformed old men shuffling about, taking up binoculars here, checking a clipboard there. I resolved to look the organisation up when I returned to base:

National Coastwatch is a charity staffed and managed by volunteers whose mission is to help save lives at sea and around the UK coastline. If you, a family member or friend uses the coastal waters or the shoreline – maybe canoeing, fishing, boating or even walking on our beautiful but sometimes treacherous coastline – we are watching and keeping you safe.

National Coastwatch is a critical part of UK Search and Rescue. We work alongside His Majesty’s Coastguard, the RNLI and the ‘blue-light’ emergency services to assist in the protection and saving of life at sea and along the coastline of England and Wales.

Judging by the quality of the guarding our Kentish coastline, His Majesty’s Coastguard needs all the help it can get. So this fantastical Lincolnshire tourist attraction not only provides ogling tourists with the opportunity to enjoy maritime views but affords others the means to spot hazards and lives in danger. That beautiful beach and gentle sea did not seem especially perilous yesterday afternoon, but skies change, waves rise and storms arrive. Our lives in general can be altered in a heartbeat: a job lost, a loved one taken, a business failed, a cancer detected. Suddenly, the sunny skies go, the balmy breezes cease and the good times stop rolling.

Thank God, we Christians have a source of joy, strength and comfort far above the world’s weather and erratic circumstance; Christ is above and beyond in that regard, yet also down here with us, offering His hand and embrace to get us through the storm.

Master, with anguish of spirit
I bow in my grief today;
The depths of my sad heart are troubled—
Oh, waken and save, I pray!
Torrents of sin and of anguish
Sweep o’er my sinking soul;
And I perish! I perish! dear Master—
Oh, hasten, and take control.

The winds and the waves shall obey Thy will,
Peace, be still!
Whether the wrath of the storm-tossed sea,
Or demons or men, or whatever it be,
No waters can swallow the ship where lies
The Master of ocean, and earth, and skies;
They all shall sweetly obey Thy will,
Peace, be still! Peace, be still!
They all shall sweetly obey Thy will,
Peace, peace, be still!

-Mary A. Baker, 1874

And there shall be a tabernacle for a shadow in the day time from the heat, and for a place of refuge, and for a covert from storm and from rain. Isaiah 4:6