I grew up hearing about the Titanic. Just as 9-11 stands in our minds, my grandmother, who was 12 years old, remembered vividly where she stood when the news that the “unsinkable” ship had sunk, reached Atlanta, Georgia. Of the 2,228 passengers who boarded the Titanic, only 705 survived – 312 were found floating in life jackets, frozen by the below freezing temperatures of the ocean. Tragically, the lifeboats were not utilized to full capacity and many who plunged into the icy waters could have survived if only someone would have made room on their boat. Survivor after survivor echoed the same sentiment, they’ll never forget the cries for help from those floating in the frigid water as they passed them.
It seems ludicrous to imagine that people could literally keep rowing passed mothers, children, fathers, the elderly, young men and women for reasons we may never understand. Maybe the person was of a different “class,” did not have the same education, did not have the same color skin, or spoke a different language. Standing back with an outsider view, we all gasp. How could such exist?
The other day I took a brief walk in Gainesville, Georgia on one of the prettiest spring days I can remember. In the past 10 years of my life, I have been through much. I passed a church with a Prayer Garden. The inviting stoned walkway led me to a Cross surrounded by blooming shrubs with a cement bench in front of it for meditation. The gentle wind flowed around me as I sat and thought about how I have come to be who I am. The answer is simple really – God. On every occasion of my life, in my day-to-day walk to the larger than life experiences, I can pinpoint God. There are circumstances I do not understand; events of time that leave me puzzled as to why such could have occurred. Even in my tears before the makeshift cross behind that church, I realized regardless of the tragedy, God has always carried me safely to the other side. How blessed I am to know God and grateful He is a part of my life. How blessed I am to have been pulled into the life raft.
I thought of the Titanic and the nameless graves holding the bodies of those the other’s passed by in the water. Do we do the same thing? Do we see people who do not have God in their lives – people destined for an eternity of Hell- and pass them by? Do we hear their cries for help but look the other way as our lifeboats row safely to shore? Afterall, we are saved! Heaven Bound! And they look different, smell different, act different, live different, eat different, and speak different. Why would we stop? Let someone else. There’s another lifeboat behind us. Let them deal with it. Do we relive the tragedy daily on a spiritual realm because we are too uncomfortable to save someone destined for destruction?
Jesus’ one request of Peter, “If you love me, feed my sheep.” John 21: 15-17. How many sheep have you fed today?
