I was 17 years-old when my dad decided we would go to New York for our annual vacation. Of course, the trip from Europe to New York could be made either by boat or by plane. Being of a immediate-gratification generation, I was pretty relieved when my dad decided the best trans-Atlantic vehicle for our trip was a plane!

I was relieved for another reason as well. Just like the rest of the world, I had heard many stories about the sinking of the Titanic on its maiden voyage across the Atlantic. It amazed me that everybody said the boat could never sink. That must have given all of the passengers plenty of false confidence, and I imagine that had I been aboard that ill-fated ship, I would have felt pretty confident. I would have had fun exploring the ship, without a care in the world. I would have visited everything. I would have worked my way into all of the areas where passengers were allowed, and quite possibly, into a few of the places where they weren’t. Because I am fascinated by machinery, I would have inspected the engine room thoroughly, and if I had been lucky, I might have even spoken to one of the mechanics. That would have been so much fun!

I would have also counted the life boats, and I likely would have noted that there weren’t enough boats for all the passengers… But then, the ship was unsinkable! Why would there need to be more life boats?

Unfortunately, there was a “however” to the story. The Titanic did hit an ice berg, and the unsinkable did sink… The fact that there weren’t enough life boats resulted in hundreds of deaths that shouldn’t have happened… They say that there was a group of musicians who played music until they sank into the water. If I close my eyes, I can sense the panic that must have ensued. I can almost hear the music fading until it was gone forever…

A few years ago my kids and I visited a graveyard in Nova Scotia, Canada where the remains of many of the this tragic voyage’s victims are buried. It was so sad to think that all of these people could have been saved, if only there had been enough life boats…

The world’s wisest man once penned these words: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.” (Prov. 3:5-6 NIV) Our tendency is to lean on our own understanding. That’s what all the poor passengers did on the Titanic. Had they put their trust in God, had they listened for His words of wisdom, had they been completely submitted to Him, their personal stories would have turned out much different…

We all make mistakes, even big ones that affect more people than just ourselves. Sometimes we put our trust in earthly things, such as the Titanic, or the stock market, or our “steady” job. And sometimes, those earthly things, like the Titanic, sink… If we would take those words to heart and truly “trust in the Lord with all [our] heart and lean not on [our] own understanding…”, perhaps our stories would end differently as well! Remember: There is only One who can save. There is only One who is completely trustworthy: Our Heavenly Father! We need to trust Him, the only one who is completely trustworthy. There is only one Saviour, Jesus Christ, and we look forward to the day when we can live with Him forever. He is one “boat” that is truly unsinkable!

In His Love,
Rob Chaffart

(To access the entire “New York, New York!” devotional series, please click here!)