The days of ocean passenger ship crossings, as distinct from sea cruises — are long gone, along with cautionary terms such as SOS:” (Save Our Souls). Christians hymns back in those days included such nautical terms as “crossing the bar” — a sandbar at a bay or river entrance. Or in the biblical sense, arriving safely in heaven at the end of a life journey. Aside from sudden storms at sea, treacherous sandbars at harbour entrances were the cause of tragic endings to pleasant ocean crossings.
Air travel made journeys much faster and safer than sea travel — especially after the arrival of passenger jet aircraft. Boarding one nowadays for an international flight is as normal as boarding a Douglas DC4 was to fly interstate in the 1950s.
Those old enough to remember the transition from sea to air travel will likely recall a parallel shift in the diminishing of awareness as to the dangers of living with little or no thought of securing salvation in this life, before unexpected death from disease or the inevitable ending at the close of one’s life. The elimination of the five major, life-threatening diseases in the mid-20th century resulted in a sense of false security in regard to the matter of everlasting life.
A ship sinking somewhere at sea with the loss of thousands of passengers on board is very dramatic (for example, the loss of the Titanic). Arguably, the loss of a jet passenger aircraft, although equally tragic, is more merciful than drowning, or drifting at sea in a life vest while dying from exposure.
I have said all that to say this: Don’t allow the relative easiness of life today (even with its increasing anxieties) to dull your perception of the most important decision you need to make before your life ends. Don’t wait until you attend another family member or friend’s funeral before thinking of your own, which, of course, is inevitable.
The world has changed so much in my lifetime that it is hardly recognizable. But the poverty of the 1940s compared with the nanny-state security of the 2020s, which contrast so much, is not the real issue. The Real Issue is that we have but one life to live, and it will soon be past, and only one lived for Christ will last…beyond this life into the next one. Something to think about while enjoying that latte before boarding your passenger aircraft. Or before departing this life.