On the first of September in 2022 a new, 639-foot bulk carrier steamship named the Mark W. Barker arrived in Cleveland.
The MWB, owned by the Interlake Steamship Company based in Middleburg Heights, had been under construction in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin since 2019. The steamship, like nine older cargo steamships in the Interlake Steamship fleet had been engineered, designed, and built for carrying and delivering cargo throughout the Great Lakes. But unlike those nine other steamships the MWB was designed particularly for carrying cargo in and out of the “crooked river” – The Cuyahoga – in Cleveland.
Mark W. Barker, the ship’s namesake, is also the President of the Interlake Steamship Company. In an interview with a reporter from the Plain Dealer when the MWB steamed into Cleveland for the first time three years ago, Barker made this statement:
“The ship has a broad versatility to it. We designed it for what will come. The question is, what will come? We don’t know yet.”
What does that mean?
A literal reading of this statement causes a great deal of head scratching. It is one of those times when the meaning of the statement is found – not in a literal reading – but in reading between the lines.
I suspect that what the sense of Barker’s reported comment means is that the design of their new cargo steamship is, in the best sense, open ended. While the ship is able to care very well for present, known demands, the MWB’s broad versatility allows for adapting the ship for future unknown cargo-carrying demands.
When it comes to the future, in a very real sense we are all on the same boat. We navigate our lives on crooked rivers, and we don’t know what will come. But like the gifted engineers and builders of a new Great Lakes steamship, we can and must cultivate and nurture a broad spiritual versatility. While we do not know the future, we can face the future by trusting that we have been designed by our Creator to carry the freight of life regardless of what will come!
This is a faith statement based on several thousand years of historical fact.
We humans have always faced an unseen future, but we have demonstrated time and time again an enormous flexibility of mind and spirit. No matter the enormous disappointments or challenges, and no matter the enormously fearsome realities which have occurred in every age, humanity – created in God’s image – does not just survive the crooked rivers but navigates them!
In these very difficult days of chaos in our government and rapidly changing social times, it is more than crystal clear that we do not know the future. In these days of political rule by the very wealthy and connected who are cheered on by the religious zealots of Christian Nationalism, the future is – as it always has been – frighteningly unknown.
The present freight we are carrying in these times is more than troublesome. Many of us are angry about it. Many of us have times of despair because of it. And many of us are feeling despondent that nothing any longer seems out of bounds or disqualifying.
But so what? We have been here before. While we do not know what the future holds, we are designed with flexibility to navigate crooked rivers trusting in who ultimately does know the future and particularly OUR personal future.
Many centuries ago, in a time of enormous political and social chaos, the prophet Jeremiah stirred the spirits of people by relaying this word from the Lord:
For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
Jeremiah 22:11
Whether in our personal lives when a visit to the doctor or a look in the mirror reflects our unknown future image, it is imperative to hear this affirmation.
Whether in a time of seeming political insanity and a sense that there is no more truth or truth telling, it is essential to hear that God’s future for each of us is a place of hope and best of all, a good place.
And of course there is this:
Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God and also in me. In my Father’s house there are many rooms, if it were not so I would not have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you.
John 14:1-2
We are designed for facing the unknown future. We can navigate because we know the future in store is ultimately good. So indeed, in these days of great upheaval and an unknown future where there never have been any guarantees, we navigate the crooked rivers trusting in the core of our design.