The bitter dregs of success

Church bulletin for November

As a family we have been watching a DVD called The Bush Tucker Man. It’s about survival in the Australian outback. Some of the episodes trace the journeys of early explorers and the challenges they faced. According to the show’s narrator, the greatest explorer to navigate his way through the interior of our continent was John McDouall Stuart. In July 1862 Stuart was the first man to lead a party from the coast of South Australia to the coast of the Northern Territory.

One can barely imagine how difficult this must have been. The outback continues to claim victims, ill equipped tourists approach inland Australia like a ramble in the Cotswolds and don’t leave alive. Apart from the harsh climate and unforgiving terrain, Stuart and his men had to deal with hostile Aborigines, scurvy, and inadequate provisions. It is little wonder that upon arriving in Adelaide he received a hero’s welcome as vast crowds gathered to greet him. Today he is remembered by statues and roads and suburbs named in his honour.

After the fanfare was over Stuart returned to his native Scotland and then went to live in London. Sadly, the first man to successfully cross one of the harshest environments on the planet lost his way in life. Stuart died in 1866 a recluse and an alcoholic. He is not alone, many who achieve great success in life struggle to come to terms when it’s over. At the conclusion of the Olympic Games, medal winners often battle with depression. We are reminded of what Solomon teaches in the book of Ecclesiastes. Ecc 2:11, Then I looked on all the works that my hands had done and on the labour in which I had toiled; And indeed all was vanity and grasping for the wind. There was no profit under the sun.”

As a number of our young people commence the journey into adult life, some studying for the HSC, others at university, some starting work, they would do well to think about what they are seeking to achieve. What do they see as the greatest of their goals? It is a tragedy for Stuart that in all of his travels and discoveries he didn’t find the pearl of greatest price.  Like many others, the taste of sweet success soon became bitter dregs. “All is vanity and grasping for wind”. Jesus said for those who drink the water He offers they will never thirst again. Stuart found water in the desert to save his body but not that water which saves and satisfies the soul. 

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