The Way to Heaven

By David Bragg

    In October 1707 the British Royal Navy's 90-gun warship, the HMS Association, was leading a string of 21 ships home from the Mediterranean Sea. On the night of October 22, the ships entered the English Channel. Suddenly the Association struck rocks off the Isles of Scilly and, along with three other ships, sank. Observers reported that the Association sank in less than four minutes. All 800 men on board the Association were lost. Those perishing on the other vessels brought the death toll to nearly 2,000 souls making the incident "the greatest maritime disaster of the age" (Wikipedia; six-degrees.com).
    Investigation revealed that the accident was the result of mistakes in the navigation tables. Although the Association's commander, Captain Edmund Loades, thought he was taking a safe path through the English Channel, he was in fact on a collision course with disaster.
    From ancient sea voyages to modern space navigation, the danger of miscalculation and human error is ever-present. No such danger is attached to the Christian’s journey to Heaven. Jesus reassured His disciples, and us, that He knows the way (John 14:1-4). And why not? He came from there. For Him it is home. He alone is uniquely qualified to blaze a trail from earth to Heaven. And His is the only trail that can be trusted to bring us to God (John 14:6).

- David Bragg serves as one of the ministers at the Northwest Church of Christ in Greensboro, NC and is co-editor of BulletinGold. He may be contacted through the congregation's website: http://www.nwchurchofchrist.com/ or his blog: http://davidbragg.blogspot.com/