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Unnecessary Baggage
In 1845, the Franklin Expedition sailed from England to find a passage across the Arctic Ocean. The crew loaded two sailing ships with much they didn't need: a 1200 volume library, fine china, crystal goblets and silverware for each officer. Amazingly, each ship took only a 12-day supply of coal for their auxiliary steam engines.
The ships became trapped in vast frozen plains of ice. After several months Lord Franklin died. The men decided to trek to safety in small groups, but none of them survived. Two officers pulled a large sled 65 miles across the treacherous ice. When rescuers found their bodies, they discovered that the sled was filled with table silver.
Those men contributed to their own deaths by carrying what they did not need. Do we not sometimes drag baggage through life we do not need? Evil thoughts that hinder us, bad habits that drag us down, grudges we will not let go? It is a cold world, but sometimes we make it worse than need be.
“Let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.” (Heb 12:1)
- David Egner
