I picked up the Book of Virtues last week from the Goodwill Bargain Bin. We've had at least 3 copies in our pilgrimages, over the years. I was browsing through "Courage" this morning and found this advertisement encased in a small black-lined box in newspaper typeset. Interested?
MEN WANTED FOR HAZARDOUS JOURNEY. Small wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness, constant danger, safe return doubtful. Honor and recognition in case of success.
- Ernest Shackleton (pictured)
British Antarctic Explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton (1874-1922) placed this ad in London Newspapers in 1900 in preparation for the National Antarctic Expedition (which subsequently failed to reach the South Pole). Shackleton later said of the call for volunteers that "it seems as though all the men in Great Britain were determined to accompany me, the response was so overwhelming." Book of Virtues, W. Bennett, p.493
It made me chuckle because of my visceral response in thinking of the spiritual parallel to this. Life can sometimes feels like an Antarctic Adventure with Christ. Shackleton's snipet challenges me to consider my responses to Christ in the more difficult seasons of passage. Hmmm....sounds a bit like...
"If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels." -The Lord Jesus
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