THE SINKING SHIP

THE SINKING SHIP - a dream
by Jack Ely

I had this dream a good many years ago. Recent talk about the Titanic
brought it to mind so I thought I would share it.

I was aboard a ship with my family. It was some sort of "Christian
Cruise" or something. All about the deck were families of Christians and
the atmosphere was one of merriment and socializing, kind of like a
Church picnic.

The ship was slowly sinking and this was not hidden from anyone for all
knew it to be absolutely true. As we socialized and talked we would
occassionally go to the railings and look overboard to try to gauge how
much longer we might have.

There seemed to be two mindsets about our plight. Most believed that we
would be rescued long before the ship sank. Others, like myself, thought
we would probably have to abandon ship. The former group accused the
latter of being pessimists and having no faith. The latter, smaller
group thought they were wiser.

Even though there were no lifeboats, there was no sense of panic.
Regardless of which belief you held, you could look and see that the
shoreline was not too far away. It would be a strenuous swim, to be
sure, but we all figured we could make it if we had to.

Looking over on the shore I saw the figure of a man and as I watched I
realized that it was an old Apostle. Noone seemed to notice him except
me, or at least, if they did, they chose to ignore him. He was jumping
up and down loudly and cupping his hands to his mouth in a frantic
effort to make himself heard.  The distance was much too far for his
voice to travel but I understood that he was warning of danger and this
caused me to try to figure out for myself what he was saying.

Suddenly, in an instant, it dawned on me. We were slowly but surely
drifting farther and farther from the shore and the currents were
getting stronger all the time. Not only was the swim going to be more
difficult the longer we waited, but if we waited too long, the suction
of the ship would pull us under and we wouldn't be able to escape. I
started telling everybody as frantically as the old Apostle on the
shore that we had to get off NOW before it was too late!

I pointed people to the old Apostle and told them to listen to him. Very
few believed that what I was telling them was what he was actually
saying though I knew with absolute certainty that it was. They watched
him with amusement but they found me annoying. The message burned inside
of me deeply though and I both reasoned and pleaded with the men to take
their loved ones and swim for their lives.

Some jumped overboard with their families and swam for shore. The old
Apostle ran up and down the shore line helping them out of the water,
embracing them and drying them off while I was on the ship pleading with
all earnestness. We were working together with all of our might and
effort, united in one spirit to save as many as we could.

Though the situation was perilous, there was also joy unspeakable and
full of glory shared between myself, the old Apostle, and the families
warming themselves on the shoreline.

I would have gone down with the ship if the Lord wanted me to but I had
my own family with me and when I realized that noone else was going to
listen, I threw them overboard and told them to swim as fast as they
could and not look back. I gave one last warning and jumped over to help
my own family to shore.

That was the end of the dream.  I awoke immediately and knew the Lord
had spoken to me from heaven, thus qualifying me as an "old man"
according to Joel and Peter.

Seeing the movie "Titanic" I was amazed to learn that the "suction"
principle was actually true. I also found it interesting that an
explosion on the ship caused many of those who were being sucked down to
be pushed back up to the surface. This spoke to me that Got is not
willing for any to perish but wants ALL to come to repentance.