On the night of August 3rd of 1991, the cruise ship “Oceanos” was attacked by rough seas off the South African coast. The engine room started to flood and all power was lost. When the passengers on board started to realize what was happening it was already too late. They saw the crew members of the ship and the captain abandoning the ship in lifeboats.There was no announcement by the captain and there was no clear instruction on how to evacuate. What the captain and crew members did was to save their very own lives and leave the rest to fend for themselves. More than 200 passengers including children and elderly people were left behind.
The captain and crew members did not obey the commissioning papers. Their job was to first save the women and children by helping them to escape. The last people who are allowed to leave the ship would be the captain and the crew members after making sure that all passengers have left. However this was not the case on Oceanos.
"I don't care what people say about me,'' the captain later said. "When I give the order abandon ship, it doesn't matter what time I leave. If some people want to stay, they can stay."
He later told the press that he felt he could direct the rescue operations "better from the shore" than from his place on the bridge of his sinking ship.
In the book of Acts we witness almost the same event. Paul was sailing on the ship heading to Rome when the ship caught a huge storm. They were in the storm for many many days with no sunlight or shore at sight. Read Acts chapter 27 for the full detail. In the storm, an angel of the Lord appeared to Paul one night and told him that, “Do not be afraid, Paul. You must stand trail before Caesar; and God has graciously given you the lives of all who sail with you.” Paul then told this to everyone on board and they were relieved and encouraged. However the storm was still raging and it showed no sign on stopping.
What happen was one night the sailors or ship crew members was planning to abandon the ship. They were lowering down the lifeboats wanting to escape when Paul saw what happened and stopped them by reporting to one of the centurions on board.
In times of danger sometimes the best option is to abandon ship and to save ourselves, leaving the helpless to fend for themselves. Don’t we think so? Even though the prophecy was revealed to Paul and Paul told everyone on board, the crew members were still so afraid for their lives that they planned to abandon ship. What was clear is that they entertained fear and they invited fear to reside in their heart. And because of fear, they forgot what God told Paul and wanted to save their own lives themselves.
Too often we choose the easy way out instead of hanging on to God’s promises. We, like the captain of the Oceanos and many other ships with similar experiences tend to abandon our duty on board in times of trouble and choose to save our own lives.
I see us as captains of the many ships, if you may. And the passengers in our ship are those people who have not come to know Christ. When the going gets tough, many of us tend to just derelict our duty and abandon ship.
Let the ship sink. It doesn’t matter.
Does it?
It does.
*Picture used by permission of Poh Leong.
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