By Tim Richards
The following quote is not found in any published work of John Wesley, but it is often credited to him.
Whether he said it or not, it is a very perceptive way to live: “Do all the good you can, By all the means you can, In all the ways you can, In all the places you can, At all the times you can, To all the people you can, As long as ever you can.”
Charles Lightoller lived out that philosophy far better than most. On a frigid April night in 1912, he was serving as a second officer aboard the Titanic when it hit the iceberg and later sank. Before the ship went down, he helped fill lifeboat after lifeboat with women and children.
Only when he was convinced he had done everything he could, did he abandon the doomed ship, diving from the roof of the officer’s quarters into the icy Atlantic Ocean.
At first he was pulled under by the sinking ship, but eventually broke free and surfaced.
He spotted an inflated but overturned lifeboat and swam to it. He climbed onto the boat, and promptly began calming the approximately 30 people huddled atop it.
During that night’s rough seas, he taught his fellow-survivors how to shift their weight to prevent their boat from being swamped.
Had it not been for his expertise they would likely have been thrown into the freezing water and probably would not have lived to be rescued several hours later.
Lightoller was the most senior crew member to survive. He was also the final person to board the RMS Carpathia when it picked up survivors.
He eventually published an account of the events of that night in the Christian Science Journal explaining how his conviction God helped him survive the terrors of that fateful night. He concluded with Jesus’ words, “with God all things are possible.” (Matthew 19:26)
If Lightoller’s story had ended there, his life would have indeed been remarkable, but this hero’s story did not conclude then.
In 1940, during the early days of World War II the British Admiralty put out a plea for every small craft available to rescue allied troops in the emergency evacuation of the beaches at Dunkirk, France.
Lightoller again stepped up. His 21-passenger motorized yacht, Sundowner, picked up 127 Allied soldiers.
Dodging bombs and bullets, he managed to pilot his dangerously overloaded boat across the English Channel. Lightoller’s Sundowner survived the ordeal and is proudly displayed at the Ramsgate Maritime Museum.
Lightoller rose to the occasion when he was needed. He demonstrated not once, but twice, “with God all things are possible.” Jesus’ statement was true not only for this brave hero in 1912 and 1940, but it is equally true for you and me today as we face the challenges of 2021.
