Your Shackleton Page

The ice had already taken the ship.

It was 1915, and Ernest Shackleton, along with his crew of 23 men, found their circumstances going from bad to worse, rapidly.

Endurance — a ship that was once a symbol of strength and ambition — was now locked, crushed, and sinking into the frozen grip of Antarctica. The men stood scattered on the raging sea, now iced over completely. The wind was cutting through their layers, and the path forward was a nightmare of uncertainty.

They had to move on, in hopes of open water, but they couldn't take everything with them.

Shackleton gave the order: each man was allowed to take the “essentials” —

• The clothes on his back

• Two pairs of mittens

• Six pairs of socks

• Two pairs of boots

• A sleeping bag

• A pound of tobacco

But beyond that, each man could bring no more than two pounds of personal belongings. The rest would be left behind.

Shackleton, a model leader, illustrated his seriousness. In the words of Alfred Lansing:

After he had spoken, he reached under his parka and took out a gold cigarette case and several gold sovereigns and threw them into the snow at his feet.
Then he opened the Bible Queen Alexandra had given them and ripped out the flyleaf and the page containing the Twenty-third Psalm. ...
Then he laid the Bible in the snow and walked away.

It was a “dramatic gesture,” Lansing recounts, not just because of the danger that lay ahead, but because of the clarity in the moment. In the face of incredible uncertainty, Shackleton chose what he believed would steady his soul.

If we could imagine the scene ... if we had been there ... if the whole Bible was too heavy to carry ... what page from the Bible would you take?

Think of it as a page not for when life is easy or when the path is obvious, but for when you are stepping into the unknown — into real uncertainty.

What part of God’s word would you carry with you?

Let’s call it our “Shackleton page.” Every man needs one.

The pastors did this exercise last week. We went around and named the passage that would be most precious to us against such incredible odds. Psalms 145, 46, 4; Revelation 22; Romans 5 — they each were named. What would you say?

Really. Think about it. Choose a passage.

You can certainly change it at any time, but what page would you “tear” out today if you were stranded in Antarctica? Or in a metaphorical Antarctica of the soul?

In hope,
and holding Romans 5 —
Pastor Jonathan