The famous RMS Titanic sank on April 15, 1912. She collided with an iceberg while making her maiden voyage to the United States. While many people may feel that it was the iceberg that caused the disaster, there was another contributing factor: the sailor on the lookout was not able to spot the iceberg in time.
The day before the launch of the Titanic, David Blair, the second officer on the ship, was reassigned. In his haste to get to his new assignment, David accidentally took away the key to the crow’s nest locker housing a pair of binoculars. A crow’s nest is a structure on the upper part of the main mast of a ship that is used as a lookout point. At this elevated position, the lookout sailor can look far ahead with the help of the binoculars to spot any hazard.
Unfortunately, as the key was with David, the lookout sailor on duty did not have access to the binoculars, and thus had to rely on his naked eyes to do his job.
At the inquiry into the disaster, one of the sailors told the committee that the binoculars would have allowed the lookout sailor to sight the iceberg much earlier, and that could have helped the ship to avoid the collision.
A key reason for this catastrophe was that the sailor was unable to look far ahead, which resulted in the loss of 1,500 lives.
Jesus urges us to open our eyes to take a good look at the harvest field, “I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.” – John 4:35
If we fail to look, we will fail to realise that the harvest is ripe and therefore miss the opportune time to bring in the harvest. When that happens, crops wither and all the hard work leading to the harvest will be wasted.
On another occasion, Jesus told the disciples that the harvest is plentiful but the labourers are few. Not only are we told that the harvest is ready and plentiful, we are told that there are not enough labourers and that we are to pray for God to send out His labourers. Immediately after that, Jesus sent out 72 followers for missions (Luke 10).
Jesus also commissioned the disciples, and through the disciples to all of us in Matthew 28: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations.”
Let us therefore open our eyes and take a good look at His Harvest field. Let us pray and be His labourers, and go and make disciples of all nations. Let us act quickly in order to save the lives of 1,500 and more — for eternity!
Will you partner HIM to #GO?
Goh Hock Chye
Country Leader/CEO
举世闻名的铁达尼号于1912年4月15日沉没。事发时它正前往美国的首航途中，不幸撞上冰山。肇因众说纷纭，不少人认为冰山是主因，另一层说法是当值的船员无法及时发现海上浮冰。
据说启航的前一天，担任二副的大卫·布莱尔(David Blair)被调离铁达尼号。匆忙中大卫不慎带走了瞭望台储物柜的钥匙。有副望远镜收在柜里。瞭望台是位于船头桅杆上作为船员观测点的设施。由于位处高处，当值船员在瞭望台上可借助望远镜眺望前方远处可能出现的风险。
由于瞭望台储物柜的钥匙在大卫处，当值船员没有望远镜在手，只能用肉眼守望。
船难调查过程中，有船员向调查委员会反馈，若当时有望远镜，或许能提早发现浮冰，使邮轮及时绕开危险海域。
这场船难的肇因之一可能是船员当时无法眺望前方远处，导致一千五百余人丧失性命。
主耶稣敦促我们举目观察禾场，圣经说：“你们不是说‘还有四个月才到收获的时候’吗？我告诉你们，举目向田观看，庄稼已经熟了，可以收割了”(约翰福音4:35， 新译本，下同)。
我们若不察看，就无法得知庄稼已成熟，因而错失收割的时机。如此一来，庄稼熟透凋谢，之前的辛劳耕耘落得一场空。
此外，主耶稣又告诉门徒要收的庄稼多，做工的人却少。我们不仅被提醒庄稼多而且已经成熟，还被告知工人不足，必须求 神打发工人收割祂的庄稼。随后，主耶稣指派了七十二个人在自己前头，到祂将要到的各城各地去(路加福音10)。
最后，主耶稣差遣门徒，也透过这些门徒，差遣现今的我们，说：“你们要去使万民作我的门徒”(马太福音28)。
所以我们应该举目察看主的禾场。让我们求告祂，献身为工人，使万民作祂的门徒。愿我们速速行动，帮助人人(接受耶稣基督)得救赎 — 免得他们永远沉沦！
您愿意与主同工吗？#GO
愿 神祝福您，
吴福财
会长
©1972-2024 Cru Singapore. All Rights Reserved.
