07/21/2025
No one will come out of this life alive. . .
The moving story by Arita Coaches
Life is not only short, it is painfully unpredictable.
I don't know if you have watched that heart-wrenching video of the ship which caught fire at sea in Indonesia. Oh men it looks like a horror movie but it was real.
I watched with bated breath as flames devoured the ship and panic swept through the decks like a storm. Men, women, and children hurled themselves into the vast, merciless sea, each leap a desperate act of survival. It was harrowing to say the least. I could almost feel the choking smoke, the searing heat pressing in from all sides, the chaos erupting like thunder. The terror of drowning, the haunting thought of lurking sharks, the paralyzing confusion, and the wave of sudden regrets, all of it crashing down in a single, helpless moment.
The cries of those mothers, torn between saving themselves or their babies, still haunt my mind. The anguish in their voices, the torment of an impossible choice, whether to leap into the unknown or cling to their babies just a moment longer still echoes in my heart. It was a raw, soul-piercing sound I won't forget soon.
Yet what touched me even more was the crew. The captains and sailors, those brave men and women who were risking their lives, urging passengers to jump to safety, all while fighting the blaze, knowing full well they might not make it out alive themselves. These were courageous men and women, doing their duty, sacrificing for others, even in the face of possible death. May God richly bless their families.
In that moment I thought about the passengers, many of whom had probably boarded that ship for the very first time. Some had likely sailed that very route many times without a single issue. But this time, everything changed. It was a normal day like others until it wasnβt. Thatβs the thing about this life, it rarely warns you when the fire is about to break out. It just happens when least expected for whatever reason.
And yet, even with that kind of tragedy, the sea did not go silent. Other ships continued to sail. The routes remained unchanged. In fact, it was other vessels that rushed in, not to grieve, or sympathize but to rescue survivors, to carry on with their lives. That my friend, in many ways, is the essence of life. Some people perish, others survive, but the world keeps moving as though nothing happened. And thatβs the sobering truth that compelled me to share this.
Did you know that you and I donβt have the latitude to choose how or when our life will end? It might be at sea, on a roadside, in a hospital bed or quietly in our sleep. But one thing is certain, death will surely come for all of us. No one will come out of this life alive as my mentor Les Brown loves to remind us. What we do get to choose is how we live before that day comes.
We can't choose how weβll die, but we can choose how we live.
So whether we live in fear it won't change anything. Fear wonβt delay the inevitable. Playing it safe wonβt protect you from lifeβs fires. You could spend your entire life trying not to die, and still miss the point of living.The real tragedy isnβt that we shall one day die. The tragedy is that the majority of us will die without ever truly living. So I challenge you today: Stop waiting for the perfect time to start living. Stop hiding behind your fears. Get up and live with intention. If you want to love someone love deeply. If it is giving to others give generously. If you want to serve do so passionately. If it is daring just dare boldly. It is better to die in that cruise ship trying to live than dying doing nothing. The eulogy will not be the same.
You were not created merely to exist, you were created to live, to shine, and to make a difference that outlives you. But the truth is, none of us knows how much time we have left. The clock is ticking, and each second draws us closer to the unknown. You are not promised the next breath, so make this one count.
May God comfort all the families involved in the tragedy.
