The year 2026 came swinging hard. It hit my local church with three consecutive funerals. Our congregation began the year in mourning. And worry seems ready to follow my own little family into February. We live outside of Eden. Tragic stories on the news, trouble in our communities, and pain in our bodies remind us of this reality. We can feel the thorns and thistles of our wilderness journey. The threat is real—yet, we have good news that’s more certain than our troubles: God may allow a disaster, but He is always a Savior and He is always good. Here’s one example that might surprise you.

Many of us know the story of the Titanic. No one expected the largest luxury ship of its time to sink on her maiden voyage. Still, the Titanic went down with 1,500 souls on April 15, 1912. It’s an infamous tale of horrific loss. It’s worth remembering and lamenting. But fewer people know the story of how God orchestrated the salvation of the 700 people who survived in lifeboats that day.

When the Titanic began to sink around midnight on April 15, she sent distress signals to nearby ships. The RMS Carpathia responded to Titanic’s calls and raced through the night to reach her. Unfortunately, there was an error in calculations. Carpathia was heading 10 miles away from where the Titanic actually was. She reached that location at 4 AM in the morning. Carpathia’s crew expected to find the world’s largest ship. Instead, they found nothing but lifeboats. The Titanic had sunk at 2:20 AM that morning—and her drifting survivors were now about 10 miles from the sinking. Yes, the lifeboats ended up at the “incorrect” coordinates given to the Carpathia!

The historian who told this story gave the credit to luck. He called it “the accident” that saved the 700 survivors of the Titanic.” The freezing survivors of the Titanic would have been very few had the Carpathia reached the lifeboats at a later time. Christians know better than to credit luck. God allowed the disaster and He also saved lives. We don’t always understand His ways but we trust His goodness. The cross of Christ stands as the most astonishing evidence of this truth.

A sinless man was falsely accused and humiliated before His merciless interrogators one night. He was stripped naked, beaten, and hung to die on a cross. This man had done no wrong. On the contrary, He kept every one of God’s Laws perfectly—loving God and all neighbors without fault. And still, this man, Jesus, was given into the hands of sinners and murdered. This horrible death was no accident. It was ordained by God for the salvation of the world. Sinners living east of Eden will meet disasters and troubles—this is what our sins have earned. But see what God has done for us in Christ! He exchanges our wages for His free gift, and grants us life and peace through the death of His own son.

Jesus “was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace” (Isaiah 53:5). Jesus submitted to the Father’s plan and willingly offered Himself to death as our guilt offering. God raised Him from the dead and He lives today to comfort and strengthen those who look to Him in this wilderness journey. We are journeying Home to a place without darkness, disaster, or death. Jesus' resurrection is the first sign of a New World. God allowed—actually, He ordained—the greatest disaster ever, because He is always a Savior and He is always good.