There’s more – Immeasurably more.

On the ocean, waves are generated by wind during storms at sea. They start out in different sizes, heights and lengths, and travel thousands of miles losing only a small amount of energy. Storms of life are often hard to handle, but God’s love for us stretches far beyond anything we can comprehend.

Ephesians 3:20 says "Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,"

'Exceedingly abundantly' means something immeasurable. God's love is immeasurable. A poem I found and published on my blog several years ago is worth repeating -

"We can only see a little of the ocean
Just a few miles distant from the rocky shore,
But out there – far beyond our eyes’ horizon,
There’s more – immeasurably more.

We can only see a little of God’s loving –
A few rich treasures from His mighty store;
But out there – far beyond our eyes’ horizon,
There’s more – immeasurably more.”

Hymns of Hope: "It Is Well with My Soul"

Horatio G. Spafford was a successful lawyer and businessman in Chicago with a lovely family - a wife, Anna, and five children. However, they were not strangers to tears and tragedy. Their young son died with pneumonia in 1871, and in that same year, much of their business was lost in the great Chicago fire. Yet, God in His mercy and kindness allowed the business to flourish once more.

On Nov. 21, 1873, the French ocean liner, Ville du Havre was crossing the Atlantic from the U.S. to Europe with 313 passengers on board. Among the passengers were Mrs. Spafford and their four daughters. Although Mr. Spafford had planned to go with his family, he found it necessary to stay in Chicago to help solve an unexpected business problem. He told his wife he would join her and their children in Europe a few days later. His plan was to take another ship.

About four days into the crossing of the Atlantic, the Ville du Harve collided with a powerful, iron-hulled Scottish ship, the Loch Earn. Suddenly, all of those on board were in grave danger. Anna hurriedly brought her four children to the deck. She knelt there with Annie, Margaret Lee, Bessie and Tanetta and prayed that God would spare them if that could be His will, or to make them willing to endure whatever awaited them. Within approximately 12 minutes, the Ville du Harve slipped beneath the dark waters of the Atlantic, carrying with it 226 of the passengers including the four Spafford children.

A sailor, rowing a small boat over the spot where the ship went down, spotted a woman floating on a piece of the wreckage. It was Anna, still alive. He pulled her into the boat and they were picked up by another large vessel which, nine days later, landed them in Cardiff, Wales. From there she wired her husband a message which began, "Saved alone, what shall I do?" Mr. Spafford later framed the telegram and placed it in his office.

Another of the ship's survivors, Pastor Weiss, later recalled Anna saying, "God gave me four daughters. Now they have been taken from me. Someday I will understand why."

Mr. Spafford booked passage on the next available ship and left to join his grieving wife. With the ship about four days out, the captain called Spafford to his cabin and told him they were over the place where his children went down.

According to Bertha Spafford Vester, a daughter born after the tragedy, Spafford wrote "It Is Well With My Soul" while on this journey.

When peace like a river attendeth my way
When sorrows like sea billows roll
Whatever my lot Thou hast taught me to say
It is well, it is well with my soul

It is well (it is well) with my soul (with my soul)
It is well, it is well with my soul

Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come
Let this blest assurance control
That Christ hath regarded my helpless estate
And hath shed His own blood for my soul

My sin oh the bliss of this glorious thought
My sin not in part but the whole
Is nailed to His Cross and I bear it no more
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord o my soul

And Lord haste the day when my faith shall be sight
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll
The trump shall resound and the Lord shall descend
Even so it is well with my soul

Did Charles Lindbergh, who in 1927 became the first man to fly the Atlantic ocean, once land his plane in Albany?

The late Johnny Thrasher, a former teacher and principal in Clinton County, wrote to Clinton County News in 1975 to tell about the time that the first airplane landed in Albany. The year was 1919. No one remembered the name of the pilot but, according to Thrasher, a history of Lindbergh tells the story of the famous pilot running out of fuel and having to make an emergency landing -- in a small town in southern Kentucky.

Thrasher was the principal at Albany Elementary in 1919 and also taught the 7th and 8th grades. Zel Davis taught the lower grades and W. M. Watkins was the high school teacher. The school was located beside the fairgrounds where Truck Rack-It Inc. is now located.

"One day we heard a roar and the students seemed frightened. Suddenly, one of the students, Roscoe Armstrong, jumped from his seat and screamed that an airplane had landed in the field near the school."

"About that time, an elderly lady who lived nearby ran to the door and screamed "The world is coming to an end!" The students jumped up from their seats and ran out the door. The old lady who had warned us the world was coming to an end had fainted and fallen to the ground just outside the door. The students were so excited to get to the airplane that they ran right over her."

After the pilot had found some fuel he attempted to take off but in the process hit an object which damaged the plane. The next day the wings were removed from the plane and it was hauled away.

The children trampling over the lady who thought the end of time was coming probably only led more to her belief that it was true. In reality, it was the end of the world for the youngsters as they has known it, and the beginning of a new world much different from what they had known before. It was the beginning of the air age.

Could the pilot have been Lindbergh? Thrasher wrote that his account of having landed in Southern Kentucky in 1919 after running out of fuel and then damaging his plane while trying to take off and having to haul the plane out makes it very probable that he was the pilot that scared the daylights out of young and old alike in Albany 100 years ago this year. And then, there is the photo. True or not, like the 'All for Benny' pitch, it makes for a great local story.

Heaven In My Eyes