Back in 1976, Gordon Lightfoot wrote a song called, "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald." (The lyrics can be found at www.ssefo.com). Many people aren't aware that it is based upon an actual event--the sinking of a cargo carrier ship in one of the Great Lakes just a year prior to that. This morning, we'll consider that shipwreck and its causes, and try to make some applications based upon our observations.
This ship--this mighty cargo ship--had a great deal going for her. When the Edmund Fitzgerald was first launched in the late 50's, she was the largest carrier on the Great Lakes--more than two football fields long. In 1964, she became the first ship on the Great Lakes to carry more than a million tons of ore through the Soo Locks. She was known as "the pride of the American Flag," and for good reason: she was a great ship, and had a good crew as well--the captain was a man of 44 years experience, and was very familiar with the Great Lakes. You know, we as individuals, can be like that too; we can have a great deal going for us--so we take pride in ourselves. In Revelation 3:14-22, Jesus gave a warning to the church in Laodicea. The Christians there had a great deal going for them--they were financially well off. Unfortunately, as often is the case, they began to trust in that wealth rather in God. In verse 17, we read that they thought they had "become wealthy, and [had] need of nothing;' yet Jesus said that they didn't know it, but they were "wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked." We can come to have a confidence in other things--whether riches, knowledge, strength, even confidence in our own nation--such that it shuts God out of the picture. We need to heed the warning found in 1 Cor 10:12, "...let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall."
A few days before she left dock, damage was noted during a routine inspection of the topside hatches--the places where cargo was lowered into the hold. This damage made them where they weren't watertight any longer--so a repair was scheduled for after the shipping season. It was found later that the clamps that held the hatches down weren't properly fastened, either; so even if there were no damage, they wouldn't have held the water out. Once, when Paul the Apostle was being kept prisoner, he had the opportunity to speak privately with the Roman Governor Felix. In Acts 24:25, "...as he reasoned about righteousness, self-control, and the judgement to come, Felix was afraid and answered, 'Go away for now; when I have a convenient time I will call for you.'" Felix knew he had some sin in his life; remember, he was afraid when Paul spoke of the judgement. But instead of taking care of it right away, he told Paul that when there was a convenient time he would call--just like the maintenance that was scheduled for the Fitzgerald. It may be, that just like the Fitzgerald, a day came too soon in which those faults were made known to Felix in a most disastrous way. We need to beware of having the attitude that, "we will have time to take care of things later"--that we will be able to seek God after we have "sown our wild oats." That time that we feel is convenient may never come.
Other things had occurred previously with regard to the ship as well. After a ship is loaded with cargo, the ship will ride lower in the water. The water level on the side of a ship is called the load line, and the laws that governed these levels had been relaxed since the Fitzgerald was first launched. As a consequence, she was allowed to carry more cargo, and sat more than three feet lower in the water than she had years before. This meant that during the storm, more water would be able to wash over the deck--which, when coupled with the leaky hatches would spell disaster. Often, we can have a good start in life: we are full of vigor, fighting with all our might against Satan and sin; but in time, we may feel tired--we may want to rest. We relax ourselves and our standards. But what do we find in 1 Pet 5:8? "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour." We can't afford to lower our defenses, lest, as the Fitzgerald found itself, we see the waters of temptation sweeping over our bow, and sin allowed deep inside our hearts.
The day before she departed, a storm was brewing; but it seemed to be a "typical November storm," and there appears to have been no real concern about it. When she left Superior, WI, early Sunday afternoon, she was loaded with nearly twice her own weight in cargo--26,000 tons of iron ore--and she headed off to Detroit. Shortly after that, forecasters predicted gale-force winds. By mid-afternoon the next day, the wind was gusting to more than 60 mph, and the waves were higher than 25 feet. About this time, the captain had contact with another ship, noting that he had some topside damage and was taking in water, but that his pumps were working. An hour later, he made contact again, saying that he had now lost both his radar antennas, and requested help navigating. At about 7 o'clock that evening, the first-mate of the ship that had been assisting asked the captain of the Fitzgerald about his ship's status--to which he replied, "We're holding our own." In spite of all the difficulties that they had encountered, including what he had said was, "one of the worst seas that he had ever been in," the master of the ship thought that they were doing alright: they were holding their own. In the book of Proverbs 30:12, we read, "There is a generation that is pure in its own eyes, Yet it is not washed from its filthiness." Often, we have a tendency to be knee deep in our own filth, in our own sins; but we think we are doing just fine. We don't stop to recognize how badly our own ship--our life--is coming apart at the seams. Jesus said in Jn 14:6, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." The fact of the matter is that without Jesus, we are not doing just fine. We cannot "hold our own;" we won't make it by ourselves. If we don't recognize our danger now--we won't make it out of this life alive.
While Lightfoot's song gave the idea that the sailors knew they were doomed to perish, this was apparently not the case. The water had been leaking through the damaged hatches throughout the storm, as well as through later damage, causing the ship to ride even lower in the water. They may not have noticed it's extent, because their cargo would have soaked it up like a sponge. Eventually, the bow hit a wall of water, and the ship could not recover--and the Edmund Fitzgerald dove quickly to it's icy grave. There was no time for a distress call; there was no time for abandoning ship. It was all over very quickly--and the same thing will very likely happen to us. Very few people expect to die before the next morning; we just assume that things will go on as they have before--one day after another. Yet, Paul wrote beginning in 1 Thess 5:2, that "...you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord [i.e. the day of Judgment] so comes as a thief in the night. For when they say, 'Peace and safety!' then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape." Sooner or later, one of two things will occur that will seal our fate: either we will die, or the Lord will come in judgement. There is no way to avoid it. That being the case, Paul continued, "But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober." We can't afford to lay down and rest, because our time to leave this life will come--and as we read in Heb 9:27, after that is the Judgment.
Mr. Lightfoot's song asks the question, "Does any one know where the love of God goes when the waves turn the minutes to hours?" I suppose he is questioning where the mercy of God can be found in the midst of such a tragic event--whether the men on board that ship thought God a God of love when finding themselves in such desperate straits. In continuing our parallel, I want you to think of your own life for a moment. Have you put off the old man of sin and put on the new (Eph 4:22-24)? Paul tells us in Rom 6:4-6 this is done in baptism: he wrote, "...we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin." If you have not been buried with Christ in baptism, you are in a desperate situation, just like the crew of the Edmund Fitzgerald; and like them, you may not even recognize your impending doom. You have been blessed with time to repent, up to now; but there is no promise that any more will be given. We read in 1 Pet 3:9,10, that God "is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance." God loves you and wants you to change--but a time of reckoning will come. Peter continues, "But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night..." At a time that you don't expect it, either you will die, or the Lord will come in judgement. There is no way to avoid it. But the end of your life need not be as tragic as that of the Edmund Fitzgerald's; you can find a safe harbor. Won't you put off the old man of sin by being baptized into Christ? Won't you give your life to God today?
