Surviving Ships

By Anthony Murray

Interested in constantly studying how people interact with one another, Pastor Anthony Murray, decided to share his realization that most interactive connective words end ins “ship”. Surviving Ships is a stimulating book about how all of the SHIPS intertwine and how people relate.
There are many different types of SHIPS: relationships, entrepreneurship, friendship, partnership, consultant-ship, courtship, acquaintanceship and ownership to name a few. Whether personal, business or association there Is no way to survive on this earth without dealing with SHIPS. This book delves into twenty words ending in SHIPS and teaches the way to thrive in life by surviving the ships.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Sep 28, 2021
• ISBN: 9781796064605

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Copyright © 2019 by Anthony Murray.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Scripture quotations marked KJV are from the Holy Bible, King James Version (Authorized Version). First published in 1611. Quoted from the KJV Classic Reference Bible, Copyright © 1983 by The Zondervan Corporation.

Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved. [Biblica]

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Rev. date: 10/07/2019

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CONTENTS

Introduction

Chapter 1 Relationships

Chapter 2 Courtship

Chapter 3 Partnership

Chapter 4 Friendship

Chapter 5 Fellowship

Chapter 6 Companionship

Chapter 7 Mentorship

Chapter 8 Apprenticeship

Chapter 9 Hardships

Chapter 10 Sportsmanship

Chapter 11Ownership

Chapter 12 Interrelationships

Chapter 13 Acquaintanceship

Chapter 14 Showmanship

Chapter 15 Membership

Chapter 16 Leadership

Chapter 17 Listenership/Viewership

Chapter 18 Conservatorship

Chapter 19 Championship

Chapter 20 Consultantship

Chapter 21 Healthy Relationships Are the Sail to All Ships

INTRODUCTION

You may ask how this book came into being. It is not a long explanation. I have always been interested in and am constantly studying how people interact with one another. It came to me that most interactive connective words end in -ship. Why not write a book that delves into how these -ship words describe how people relate? That is the reason for this book—to share my personal interest with you.

I want to start by telling you what the suffix -ship means. If you understand this, it will be clearer to you why I want to talk about it in an entire book.

The suffix -ship is used to form a word that defines the state or condition of a thing. For example, are you and your dad occasionally communicating, or are you in a healthy father-son or father-daughter relationship? For this writing, I will be talking about the quality or state or condition in interpersonal -ships. Quality is what gives the word a -ship ending. You do not just have a friend but you also have a friendship that emphasizes the quality of how you relate to someone and the longevity of that relationship. The quality of relationships is the broader definition of all the -ship words discussed in this writing.

It is difficult for some people to differentiate the connections among people. I have heard many people call someone their friend when in all actuality, they are not in a friendship in the traditional sense. The description of friend just describes how well you know someone. You may not want to describe the person as just a coworker because you both eat lunch together quite often or you invited him to your wedding. But when it comes to serious matters of the heart, you may not tell him that your house is in foreclosure or that your wife’s mother is moving to Alaska.

If you look up the definition of friendship, it will say the relationship you have with a friend. In everyday life, you need to decipher between what a real friend is or should be and those people whom you’ve crowned friends but are simply associates. Knowing the difference can establish those boundaries that will keep you at peace when a friend changes course. You really want to know how to sever a connection before irreparable damage occurs. Setting up borders happens slowly, and you need to recognize where they should go.

In this book, I will deal with several ships and touch on others. It is good to be educated on the subject so that you will not be confused about your relationships. Of course, there will be a chapter on courtship. Many think that courtship and marriage are the most important, but not breaking down the other ships can leave you lonely and confused in courtship and marriage.

So buckle your seatbelt and take the ride of your life. Whether you are fifteen or eighty-five, you need to know how all the ships intertwine. There are plenty of books on friendship and courtship, but what about traversing the ships in one combined reading? You may want to take notes.

In The Way to Survive Ships: Lessons on Thriving Along with Others in This Life, you will not only survive the turbulence of some relationships but also learn how to thrive in relationships that are designed to last a lifetime.

Let’s form a partnership just for you wanting to read this book. The one request is that you be transparent in your thoughts on what you are reading. I promise to do the same in return. You will have gathered some valuable information, and my goal in sharing will be accomplished.

CHAPTER 1

Relationships

This entire book can be summed up in one word: relationships. There is no way to survive on this earth without having relationships. As stated in the introduction, the suffix or word ending of -ships is the status of the word it is attached to. You can relate to everyone in the world on some level, but the -ship at the end brings you into a mutual understanding of how you are relating. You can say Hi! to your pharmacist every time you pick up a prescription, but when you need a favor and must have an in-depth conversation, your communication goes deeper than average cordiality. You now are entering into a more formal relationship. You may ask, What is the difference? First you were casual acquaintances, but now it gets more personal. You need a personal favor about a personal prescription, and you are now verbalizing something more intimate and finding out how courteous your pharmacist really is. Maybe you want him/her to split the prescription into two for the next six months. Whatever the personal request is, you are now having miniconversations every month. (That is long!) How he responds and what he now does will define what kind of relationship you will have from this day forward. That’s the book in a snippet—determining what kind of relationships you have in several areas of your life using many words ending in -ship.

Relationship means the way in which two or more concepts, objects, or people are connected or the state of being connected. In order to succeed in life and even win, you will need a village called people. You need connections. No matter how one race, religion, or culture relate to one another, they are all people. You cannot truly be successful without having relationships with humans because success is determined by your ability to interact and intermingle with others who can accept you just the way you are and relate to you. That is a possibility for everyone. You must learn how to navigate relationships. Every relationship is different, every person is different, and what you can do in one setting may not be suitable for the next. How you understand the settings that you find yourself in is how you build relationships. Your connection with people will determine the status of your relationships.

For every season and circumstance in your life, you have to build on different relationships. The people who stand out the most are those who understand the importance of relationships. They step out and purposely build them. They know what it takes to excel, and they work around their insecurities and go beyond the bounds of their comfortability. The short-term discomfort is worth the lessons learned in building new relationships everywhere you go.

If you are a person prone to isolation at all costs, you will find yourself creating habits that you will not be likely to change. These habits can be deterrents to healthy relationships. It is extremely difficult to judge yourself. People are the sounding board for life. What is normal to do is judge others by their actions and judge yourself by your intentions. The habits, good or bad, will not be judged either way by the fact that you are not open to relationships. Being alone on occasion is not in itself a bad thing. But no one was created to only relate to themselves. Just like everyone else, each person is meant to have relationships. Those habits that you grow accustomed to while you are all alone will rear their head for what they are when you have to be in the company of others. A young man once said that his self-analysis of problems makes good sense until he gets around other people. After that, he has to go back to the drawing board with some dysfunctional thoughts born in his private time.

You are designed, by the very nature of who you are, to have relationships. Your success depends on them, your survival depends on them, and your mental faculties depend on them. That’s why you have the ability to smile, wink, laugh, and talk. What is communication without relationships? No one reading this can justify why it is better to be alone. If you can, then I already understand the level of your success. Your biggest accomplishment in life is how you develop your most profitable relationships. This is not only speaking of intimate friendships. This is about any relationship (many of which will be discussed in this book). It is with relationships that you are improving on your personal design.

There is always more to learn and more to see. Relationships can take you places that all the money in the world never could. Ask celebrities the best things that ever happened in their lives, and most will relay the stories of times when a relationship opened the doors to something more. Actress Gabrielle Union was once asked what was the best thing about dating national basketball player Dwayne Wade. Her answer was, Free basketball tickets. At the time of that question, she was said to be worth around $16 million (www.bankrate.com/GabrielleUnionnetworth). You are probably asking why she would