source: www.youthwork-practice.com | 2000 Games, Devotions, Themes, Ideas and more for Youth Work
only for private using

Titanic – how do we live on our dream boat?

„As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 39and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away“.
(Matthew 24,37.39)

It is 23.40 on the 14th April 1912. Frederick Fleet, sailor on the 'Titanic', sits as a lookout in the crow’s nest, 20 meters above the deck. He does not have a telescope, no flood light – he has to trust his own eyes. The night is clear and peaceful. He suddenly sees a large black mountain in front of him which blocks out his view of the stars. He sounds the warning bell. 'Iceberg, dead ahead!' he screams into the telephone. The first Officer, Milliam Murdoch, tries to skirt the ship past the left side of the iceberg but he does not manage it.

The ice hits the 'Titanic' in the front third of the ship in several places. Only the engineers in the front most boiler room notice that something is wrong when the ice cold Atlantic waters flood in. Anyone else on board who noticed anything only saw the cutlery rattling around in the drawers or a tray of bread buns falling out of the oven. Most of the 2200 people on board do not notice anything, they are too busy sleeping or partying and flirting, drinking and dancing, chatting and laughing. The engines are stopped five minutes after the collision. The sudden quiet disturbs some people. They look out into the gangways or go up on deck. A few lumps of ice are lying around. Some passengers become over confident and start a snowball fight. 'They’ll get moving again soon', they all calm each other. 'Everything is O.K'. No one thought that the dream ship would sink down into the dark depths in less than 3 hours. Do we understand how to interpret the signals of our time correctly? Or do we feel safe on our personal “dream boat” - so sure that we overhear the warnings of our saviour?

Will we allow ourselves to be “woken up” on time lead into the “life boat” - in a friendly relationship with HIM!

Sylvia Renz

With the kind permission of Advent-Verlag www.advent-verlag.de