I know it isn’t cool to admit to liking the 1997 James Cameron Titanic movie, but one bit I’ve always loved is the sequence where the camera tracks through the Titanic’s engine room as the boilers are fired, the steam builds, the massive pistons start to pump and the ship powers out to sea.  There’s a kind of geeky, techy delight in lingering over all that mighty machinery, and the scene has a real dynamism and sense of movement.

For the last few weeks it feels as if we’re at a similar point in The Dock’s journey.  (All other attempts to draw any parallels between The Dock’s journey and the Titanic’s end here!  I’ll not be responsible for my actions the next time someone hears about the idea for The Dock and then chortlingly says “I hope it doesn’t sink….”)  Since the new year, it feels as if the momentum is beginning to gather, the wheels are turning, the pace is starting to build in all sorts of aspects of Dock-world.

I’ve written before about how frustrating it sometimes is to not be able to share every piece of progress on this blog – I’d love to shout all the good news from mountaintops (or from the top of Samson and Goliath), but in lots of cases it would be unfair, premature or foolish to put pressure on tentative relationships and cautious first steps by flinging them open to the world wide web.  Suffice to say – there is forward momentum in building the Shared Medley; there is forward momentum in building the core team of people committed to The Dock project; there is forward momentum in finishing the Business Plan, forming the company and establishing the superstructure.  There are even some tentative possibilities in terms of a boat.  As soon as anything is definite enough to go public, you’ll be the first to know!

In the meantime, if I can ask all of you who check in here to follow the story to continue to pray – that the momentum would continue to build, like those pounding engines – for the Titanic Quarter as a whole, which has a momentum all of its own, and for The Dock project, as we seek to grow something fresh and exciting and rooted and right for building faith in the TQ.

Unusually, I wasn’t able to find a video clip of that engine-room scene from the movie on Youtube – the copyright-infringement crew must be out in force! – but I did find this rather cool CGI version (complete with a jaunty theme tune) – maybe you can use it as the background to a prayer for momentum.  Take her to sea!