WRITING
BLIND

Topics: Death; Despair; Eternal Life; Fear; Hope

Reference: Psalm 23:4

When divers combed the wreckage of the Kursk, the Russian nuclear submarine on which 118 sailors perished, they found a letter written by Lieutenant Dmitri Kolesnikov, addressed to his wife, Olga. It was written after the explosion that felled the sub August 12, 2000, in the Barents Sea and confirmed speculation that all the crew had not died instantly.

Hours after the sub plunged to the bottom of the sea, Kolesnikov wrote, “All the crew from the sixth, seventh, and eighth compartments went over to the ninth. There are 23 people here.… None of us can get to the surface.”

The last lines of the letter indicated that death was closing in as the auxiliary power failed. Kolesnikov wrote unevenly in the pitch-darkness: “I am writing blind.”

The apostle Paul, blind and knowing that a martyr’s death was near, also wrote good-bye letters. His writing, though, was filled with hope in Christ.

—Greg Asimakoupoulos, “Hope beyond Earthly Life,” PreachingToday.com