Our Stories
Preparing for the Unexpected
By Mac Taylor | posted 01/25/2007
“Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.” (Joshua 1:9)
I plopped myself down in the easy chair to let my jello-fied muscles return to a semi-solid state after showing off my latest soccer prowess. I must be crazy, playing two indoor games that finish at 10:30 PM on a Sunday night. Nothing that a few ibuprofen and TIVO can’t handle. I begin the transformation to the desired end goal: sleep. “NOVA – Artic Passage” … hmmm … Click
In the 1800’s Europeans searched for the fabled Northwest Passage through a maze of uncharted Canadian Islands that potentially would cut months off the arduous sea voyage from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Time and time again explorers had failed, thwarted by massive ice flows. Finally, in 1845 Sir John Franklin mounted an all out assault with the largest exploration voyage to the Arctic that the British Empire had ever launched. Two of the best ships of the day -- the Erebus and Terror -- were retrofitted and provisioned with three years supply of goods, much of it using a new technology: tin cans. Their stash included 33,000 pounds of meat in these tin cans, 136,000 pounds of flour, 9,000 pounds of chocolate, and 2,400 books. Despite this impressive preparation, after a stop in Greenland, the crew of 129 men was never heard from again.
What went wrong is a 160-year-old mystery that has been pieced together by a CSI worthy investigation. The evidence includes three graves, ice core samples, testimonies of Inuit elders, and numerous artifacts of the expedition including two handwritten notes. Conclusions: three sailors perished the first winter on Beechey Island in the High Arctic; autopsies revealed tuberculosis and lead poisoning. The canned food brought with it a curse; the cans had been sealed with a lead-based solder that slowly poisoned the crew. The timing of the voyage was catastrophic; during a string of unusually cold years the ice in their vicinity never melted. After two years stuck in the ice (and three years into the journey), the party abandoned their ships. By then their beloved leader Franklin was dead, along with nine officers and 15 crew men. The remaining men began dragging a lifeboat made into a sled filled with provisions weighing an estimated 1,400 pounds to the nearest outpost 600 miles south. Eventually found with the abandoned lifeboat were prayer books, the New Testament in French, carpet slippers, chocolate, tea, button polishers, buttons, silver plate and utensils. Inuit reports the last white men to be spotted alive in 1851, six years into the doomed expedition.
Why did they fail? What could they have done differently? They had apparently prepared well for the trip. It was the best outfitted expedition to date, with the latest technology, with the most able captain, and with three years supply of food.
What they did not prepare for was the unexpected, the unknown. One of their preparations, Canned Food version 1.0, was a great idea with a bad implementation – not unlike Windows 1.0. Version 2.0 tin cans would certainly have been more user friendly.
You can never put a disaster on a future date in the calendar. Here in the Puget Sound this winter, we have become painfully aware that we are not in full control of our circumstances and our destiny. We’ve had floods, storms, wind, snow, and ice -- the kind of things you read about that God typically has had a habit of sending elsewhere. “Disaster Preparation” is suddenly a local topic of interest. When will the big earthquake hit Puget Sound? Are you prepared with extra food, water, and batteries? Do you have a disaster kit in your car?
How do we prepare for the unexpected in life? What do we do when the ice doesn’t melt in the summer, when we don’t make the grades, when we can’t pay the bills, when we lose our jobs, when the tin cans of life-giving food are full of lead, when a loved one is taken from us, when our health suddenly deteriorates, when a relationship ends, when we drag a lifeboat full of useless supplies hundreds of miles only to be abandoned, when we live with a past we can’t let go of, when we live with a future we can’t face, or when we live with an addiction we would like to abandon, but can’t?
To face hard times, what is in your spiritual disaster kit, and who will be there with you to face those hard times?
There is one who promises to be with us, no matter where we are, no matter how bitter the cold, no matter how strong the wind, and no matter how grave the calamity. Life never proceeds as we have planned. But God does. We can hang on to him in the storms of life. As we sail into the unknown future of tomorrow and the next day, and the day after that, we know that we have a God who will never leave us. Whether we discover the Northwest Passage or get stuck in the ice, that is reassuringly good news.
Psalm 46:1-3, 10-11
To respond to this message, email Mac at mact@ecreekside.com. (For more info, check out www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/arctic/)
1 God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.
2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
3 though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging.
10 "Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth."
11 The LORD Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.
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“Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.” (Joshua 1:9)
I plopped myself down in the easy chair to let my jello-fied muscles return to a semi-solid state after showing off my latest soccer prowess. I must be crazy, playing two indoor games that finish at 10:30 PM on a Sunday night. Nothing that a few ibuprofen and TIVO can’t handle. I begin the transformation to the desired end goal: sleep. “NOVA – Artic Passage” … hmmm … Click In the 1800’s Europeans searched for the fabled Northwest Passage through a maze of uncharted Canadian Islands that potentially would cut months off the arduous sea voyage from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Time and time again explorers had failed, thwarted by massive ice flows. Finally, in 1845 Sir John Franklin mounted an all out assault with the largest exploration voyage to the Arctic that the British Empire had ever launched. Two of the best ships of the day -- the Erebus and Terror -- were retrofitted and provisioned with three years supply of goods, much of it using a new technology: tin cans. Their stash included 33,000 pounds of meat in these tin cans, 136,000 pounds of flour, 9,000 pounds of chocolate, and 2,400 books. Despite this impressive preparation, after a stop in Greenland, the crew of 129 men was never heard from again. What went wrong is a 160-year-old mystery that has been pieced together by a CSI worthy investigation. The evidence includes three graves, ice core samples, testimonies of Inuit elders, and numerous artifacts of the expedition including two handwritten notes. Conclusions: three sailors perished the first winter on Beechey Island in the High Arctic; autopsies revealed tuberculosis and lead poisoning. The canned food brought with it a curse; the cans had been sealed with a lead-based solder that slowly poisoned the crew. The timing of the voyage was catastrophic; during a string of unusually cold years the ice in their vicinity never melted. After two years stuck in the ice (and three years into the journey), the party abandoned their ships. By then their beloved leader Franklin was dead, along with nine officers and 15 crew men. The remaining men began dragging a lifeboat made into a sled filled with provisions weighing an estimated 1,400 pounds to the nearest outpost 600 miles south. Eventually found with the abandoned lifeboat were prayer books, the New Testament in French, carpet slippers, chocolate, tea, button polishers, buttons, silver plate and utensils. Inuit reports the last white men to be spotted alive in 1851, six years into the doomed expedition. Why did they fail? What could they have done differently? They had apparently prepared well for the trip. It was the best outfitted expedition to date, with the latest technology, with the most able captain, and with three years supply of food. What they did not prepare for was the unexpected, the unknown. One of their preparations, Canned Food version 1.0, was a great idea with a bad implementation – not unlike Windows 1.0. Version 2.0 tin cans would certainly have been more user friendly. You can never put a disaster on a future date in the calendar. Here in the Puget Sound this winter, we have become painfully aware that we are not in full control of our circumstances and our destiny. We’ve had floods, storms, wind, snow, and ice -- the kind of things you read about that God typically has had a habit of sending elsewhere. “Disaster Preparation” is suddenly a local topic of interest. When will the big earthquake hit Puget Sound? Are you prepared with extra food, water, and batteries? Do you have a disaster kit in your car? How do we prepare for the unexpected in life? What do we do when the ice doesn’t melt in the summer, when we don’t make the grades, when we can’t pay the bills, when we lose our jobs, when the tin cans of life-giving food are full of lead, when a loved one is taken from us, when our health suddenly deteriorates, when a relationship ends, when we drag a lifeboat full of useless supplies hundreds of miles only to be abandoned, when we live with a past we can’t let go of, when we live with a future we can’t face, or when we live with an addiction we would like to abandon, but can’t? To face hard times, what is in your spiritual disaster kit, and who will be there with you to face those hard times? There is one who promises to be with us, no matter where we are, no matter how bitter the cold, no matter how strong the wind, and no matter how grave the calamity. Life never proceeds as we have planned. But God does. We can hang on to him in the storms of life. As we sail into the unknown future of tomorrow and the next day, and the day after that, we know that we have a God who will never leave us. Whether we discover the Northwest Passage or get stuck in the ice, that is reassuringly good news.
Psalm 46:1-3, 10-11 To respond to this message, email Mac at mact@ecreekside.com. (For more info, check out www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/arctic/) |
