Off Watch
Old Stories About Finding Peace Before Anything Is Fixed
Steve Fultz
On a ship, a watch is your turn to keep the boat on course while the others sleep. Off watch is when someone else takes the wheel and you can finally lie down. These are twelve old stories about people who found that kind of peace before anything was fixed.
What’s keeping you up?
- I can’t stop doing.Martha, in the kitchen with the guests waiting
- Tomorrow won’t leave me alone.A crowd on a hillside, with tomorrow on their minds
- The storm hasn’t stopped.A boat on the lake, filling with water
- Nothing is fixed yet.Gideon, hiding his wheat in a winepress
- I keep saying “fine.”A woman from Shunem, on the worst day of her life
- I can’t sleep until it’s handled.Peter, asleep between two soldiers
- I can’t undo what I did.A woman at a dinner she wasn't invited to
- I can’t say it to anyone.Hannah, at a table she dreaded every year
- I’ve run out.Elijah, under a bush in the desert
- I dread facing someone.Jacob, on his way home to the brother he cheated
- Keeping the peace means keeping quiet.Abigail, on a road with four hundred swords on it
- I keep waiting and nothing comes back.Habakkuk, looking out at empty fields
None of those, or all of them? Start at dusk.
Or read it as one night
The stories run in the order of a ship's watches, from dusk to first light.
The dog watches · 4 to 8 p.m.← you are here
The first watch · 8 p.m. to midnight← you are here
The middle watch · midnight to 4 a.m.← you are here
The morning watch · 4 to 8 a.m.← you are here
First light← you are here
Kept on this phone only.