“These things happened…as…warnings for us.” 1Co 10:11 NIV
Scientists now say it was a series of slits, not a giant gash, that sank the Titanic, the opulent, nine-hundred-foot ocean liner that went down in 1912 on its first voyage from England to New York. Fifteen hundred people died that night in one of history’s worst maritime disasters. The most widely held theory was that the ship hit an iceberg, which opened a huge gash in its side. But an international team of divers and scientists recently used sound waves to probe through the wreckage, which is buried in mud two and a half miles deep. Here’s what they discovered. The damage was surprisingly small. Instead of a huge gash, they found six relatively narrow slits across the six watertight holds. “Everything that could go wrong, did,” said William Garzke Jr., a naval architect who helped the team with their analysis. So, what sank the Titanic? Basically four things, and these four things will sink you too:
(1) They thought they were immune, that it couldn’t happen to them.
(2) They were “asleep at the wheel” and failed to heed five different warnings.
(3) It wasn’t one big thing, but a series of small things that took them under.
(4) The problem that finally destroyed them was hidden beneath the water line, out of sight.
The Bible says: “These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us…So, if you think you are standing firm in your faith, be careful that you don’t fall!” (vv. 11-12). Not one of us, however strong, wise, successful, or virtuous, is immune to failure. So stay close to God!