"As long as it is day,
we must do the work of him who sent me.
Night is coming, when no one can work."
John 9:4
Long ago, in the days before modern harbors, a ship would have to wait for the flood tide before it could make it to port. The Latin term for this situation was ob portu. Literally, the phrase means "standing over against the port" or "before the port."
The picture that the phrase calls to mind is instructive: the ship was before the port, waiting for the moment when it could ride the tide into the harbor.
And that's where we get the English word opportunity.
The picture that the phrase calls to mind is instructive: the ship was before the port, waiting for the moment when it could ride the tide into the harbor.
And that's where we get the English word opportunity.