All About Boats

I know very little about boats, other than that they float.  Unless they have a hole in them, and then they don't float.  And then there is a lot of bailing involved.  Duct tape, too, if you have it.
I started reading the Book of Mormon again after a long hiatus.  I am finding an incredible depth to the scriptures.  It's amazing how a few life experiences will open the scriptures up in a way you'd never imagine.  I read about Nephi's boat.  It struck me that he had to have seen boats in his life, poised as he was in Jerusalem between at least two large bodies of water.  The scriptures and ancient history tell of the Phoenicians from Tyre who were master boat builders.  Here is a site that talks a little bit about it.  They had the technology to build large ocean going vessels that sailed from their ports on the eastern seaboard of the Mediterranean as far as Spain. While there is speculation that they could have gone further in these massive ships, there isn't any proof.  So, let's begin with Nephi and his brothers knowing what boats look like.
Nephi is commanded to build a boat, by none other than the Lord.  No wonder his brothers were concerned that it would not float and spent some time laughing and mocking and thought he should not try.  I don't think any of them could imagine how very long they would be gone on this boat, but they did know that it was a trip into the unknown sea to an unknown land.  They understood that this boat needed to be strong enough and big enough to endure such a journey and they were familiar with what would be needed.  What would be needed could not be run by a few men who had spent the last 8 years as nomads and had probably never spent much time on a boat.  What they needed was a massive boat crewed by over one hundred experienced sailors. 
What they got was something different.  The Lord's ingenious blueprint gave them a vessel strong enough to withstand a long voyage, the winds that blew them there, and the violent storms they endured because of wickedness, but it was small enough to be crewed by a dozen or so inexperienced men.  It was big enough to carry their family and the things they had gathered for their new life, but it was small enough to suit the purposes of the Lord.
Then I thought of a couple of other boats.  The ark of Noah and the quasi-submarines of the people of the Brother of Jared.  Each designed by the Lord to fulfill a specific purpose and decidedly not using the formula of man.
Then I thought of a tiny basket that sent a small baby to his earthly salvation and the eventual earthly salvation of the entire tribes of Israel.  As Moses' mother lovingly, tearfully, made his basket, was she instructed of the Lord?  Did he help her to know to line it with pitch so that her precious bundle would arrive safe and dry?  I imagine so.  Too many lives depended on that little basket for Him not to have been involved.
Too many lives have always depended in the boats of the scriptures-- in the pivotal points of history--for Him not to be involved. 
How many times in my life am I asked to do things differently than what I think?  How many times do I hear the counsel of the prophets which differs significantly from the hue and cry of the world and what my own personal experience has taught me?  How many pivotal moments will I be exposed to, asked to build a boat for, and will be obedient to like Nephi, Noah, the Brother of Jared, and Jochebed?  Will I?  Will I turn my brain off and just be obedient?  Actually, I should never turn my brain off, I should just tune my brain in to a different channel. 
Isaiah 55:8
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord."
My boats are not your boats.