Have You a Repair-Ship?
The British navy is greatly aided by repair-ships, which go along with the battleships and make repairs that otherwise would necessitate a return to some dry-dock, perhaps a thousand miles away.
The Ark Royal is a repair-ship for airplanes. It can patch up any part of these cruisers of the air, and it often carries spare airplanes to take the place of those that are under repair.
The Cyclops carries three hundred skilled mechanics, besides its crew, and contains many kinds of repair-shops, besides a complete foundry, which can turn out anything about a ship, even a propeller or an anchor. It has a big steam-hammer as well as forges, smithies, and furnaces.
The Vulcan is a repair ship for torpedo-boats, and has two immense cranes which lift small boats right out of the water and deposit them on deck.
That is the way a sensible man will do as he cruises on the sea of life, fighting many a battle with angry foes. He gets used up in the process. Of course he does. Sometimes hard work knocks him out. Sometimes hard play. Sometimes worry. Sometimes the hatred or lies of others. Every one of us needs repairs now and then.
And the way of many of us is to wait till matters have got so bad that we must post off to the dry-dock. We must go off on a long and expensive vacation. Or we must go to bed for a month. Or we must take refuge in a sanitarium or the hospital. Or we even sink into chronic invalidism.
How much better to have our repairs made as we go along! How much better to watch ourselves, and, if we see we are below par physically or mentally or spiritually, apply the proper remedy immediately and on the spot! It may be a day off. It may be a little more recreation. It may be an hour longer in bed each day—a trifle earlier in retiring and later in rising. It may be more time with your family. It may be more time with your Bible. It may be more prayer.
These are all repair-ships of the first order. They are as good as the dry-dock. And they are right with you all the time. You can go to them in the midst of a battle or without interrupting your cruise. With their help you can keep yourself in good trim all the time.
Is it not worthwhile to avail yourself of their timely aid?