On March 5th, 2022, an underwater archeological team from the Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust discovered the wreck of the Endurance. It rests at 9,869 feet off the northwest coast of Antartica, lying in some of the coldest waters on earth. The ship had sailed from England in August 1914 for the Antarctic, and Captain Ernest Shackleton intended to lead his team in the first land crossing of the continent. Fifteen months later, on November 21st, trapped in sea ice and slowly crushed, the Endurance sank, leaving her 28-man crew stranded at the bottom of the world. It was not until August of 1916 that they were rescued. Not one man was lost.
Alfred Lansing’s book, Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage is well worth reading (or listening to the audiobook, as I did). It isn’t just descriptions of physical skill or the remarkable creative ability that rises up in the face of great danger that is so stunning. It’s also that mysterious drive that makes a human being do the next thing and the next to stay alive, to survive the unsurvivable.
Recently, several chapters in Hebrews reminded me of the voyage. The writer returns again and again to this theme:
10:32: “. . .you endured a great struggle—with sufferings. . .” (after your conversion)
10:34: “. . .you understood that enduring [eternal] things await you in heaven”
12:1: “. . .let’s run this race with endurance. . .” (as spiritual athletes)
12:3: re: enduring hostility and suffering, “consider the model of Jesus Himself”
12:7: re: spiritual discipline (i.e. chastening), “don’t just endure it–learn and live the lesson”
Then, chapter 11, with its detailed and deeply moving descriptions of the sufferings of God’s people. What helped them endure—often to the death? The unshakable conviction of that final resurrection, that an eternal future with the Lord they loved was being prepared. Not pie in the sky, or some religious fantasy, but the clear-eyed certainty of a heavenly homeland.
It’s challenging to keep a heavenly homeland in mind in the dailiness of our lives. This is life and we all have some measure of illness, financial strain, family conflict, a difficult work environment, ad infinitum. But we aren’t instructed to endure with gritted teeth, barely hanging on by our fingernails. There’s a muscular quality to those verses, the encouragement to get through “it”, whatever “it” may be, with
- confidence that everything we encounter has first passed through His hands, and
- a disciplined enduring in the light of eternity, and,
- in regard to “chastening”, acknowledgment that it is for some particular benefit for us individually, and is always administered—or permitted—in love.
As Thanksgiving approaches, I hope your heart is refreshed with confidence that your future rests in His hands. Your prayers have been heard. And your task is to trust Him. He is working on Your behalf and He has prepared a city for you.(11:16)