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If
The Titanic Had Not Sunk
If
the Titanic had not sunk… I would not have my husband
and children and grandchildren!
Over
one hundred years ago in an area of
Europe,
Emil married Tererjia and started a family. They were
undoubtedly filled with great joy when little Joseph was born to
them. Yet great sadness awaited them with the birth of another
child. Tererjia died, and it is assumed the child died as well,
since nothing else is ever heard about that little one.
At
some point, Emil left young Joseph in the care of others, and
sailed to
America
to
begin a new life there. Once he was able, after about three
years, he sent for nine year old Joseph to come to him. Bringing
him was a woman named Mary Clara, who was to marry Emil. The two
boarded the Titanic in April of 1912 and set sail across the
Atlantic
Ocean.
During
the voyage, as the Titanic was sinking, Mary Clara got a
sleeping Joseph out of bed and brought him up on the deck of the
ship. After tossing him safely into a lifeboat, Mary Clara lost
her own balance and plunged into the icy water below. She
drowned in the undertow of a lifeboat.
Joseph
remembers sitting in the lifeboat with no (street) clothes on,
his fingernails frozen… aching. He said music was being played
on the big ship. (In his later years Joseph, along with other
Titanic survivors, would recount the events of that night in an
article in a Cleveland
newspaper.)
After
being picked up by the Carpathia and brought to America, Joseph
was unable to reunite with his father, as Joseph could speak no
English, and didn't know where his father lived. He was sent
back to the original embarking point in
England.
Months later a relative of Emil's named Andreas would bring
Joseph to
America
on
the ship the St. Louis, and reunite the father and son on a farm
in Ohio where Emil was working.
Emil
met and married a woman in
America
with
whom he went on to have eight more children. The third child,
George, Joseph's half-brother, would become my father-in-law in
1974.
God
is completely and awesomely sovereign and in control of
everything.
Through
the horrific tragedy of the Titanic's sinking, Emil ended up
marrying the woman in America that he did, having the children
they did, and one of them with his wife would in turn have the
man I would one day marry. Our own three children, and now six
little grandchildren, also came as a
result of that fateful night in April, 1912.
Could
God have brought George and his children (which included my
beloved husband, and then our children, and grandchildren) into being without these
tragic chain of events? Of course He could have! But He
instead chose to use those events - including the sinking of the
Titanic, as part of His plan to bring about something that I
consider to be very good - my husband and children and
grandchildren!
Our
great God's promise to cause all things to work together
for good to those who love Him, to those who are called
according to His purpose is absolutely true (Romans 8:28). His
good and sovereign plan is woven into our lives through all
things He ordains and allows... and we are exceedingly
grateful for this.
© 2007-2012 John and Kim Namestnik
www.givengrace.com
Note:
This page is copyrighted with all rights reserved. Permission to
use it in any way must be obtained from us first. Our email
address is on our Home Page.
(Original
Posting 4-13-07)
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And
He said to him,
You
shall love the LORD your GOD
with
all your heart,
and
with all your soul,
and
with all your mind.
This
is the great and foremost commandment.
(Matthew
22:37-38)
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What
Grace is Mine
What
grace is mine
That He who dwells in endless light
Called through the night to find my distant soul
And from His scars poured mercy that would plead for me
That I might live and in His name be known
What
grace is mine
to
know His breath alive in me
Beneath His wings my weary soul may soar
All fear can flee for death's dark night is overcome
My Saviour lives and reigns forevermore
So
I will go wherever He is calling me
I lose my life to find my life in Him
I give my all to gain the hope that never dies
I bow my heart take up my cross and follow Him
(©
2009 Thankyou Music - Song by Keith & Kristyn Getty)
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Grace is given
not because we have done good works
but in order that
we may be able to do them.
Saint Augustine of Hippo
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Excellent
reminder this beautiful fall day...
We
are not long here.
Our
life is but a breath.
So
we better breathe it!
(attributed
to C. S. Lewis)
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Two
new posts are up in the Learn to Discern section:
1.
Verbatim
or Plainly
2.
Mental
Checklist
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Great
is the LORD, and highly to be praised; and His greatness is unsearchable. One generation shall praise Thy works to another,
and shall declare Thy mighty acts. On the glorious splendor of
Thy majesty, and on
Thy wonderful works, I will meditate. (Psalm
145:3-5)
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