Do you feel like the QE2? - left to rot

All photos courtesy of Unsplash 

The QE2 – the longest, widest, tallest, fastest and most expensive passenger liner when it was built – made 26 circumnavigations of the world and took more than three million passengers a staggering 5,875,264 nautical miles in glittering surroundings that were the epitome of luxury. 

Today, however, more than 55 years after she was launched, the once magnificent QE2 is a discarded shell taking on rainwater and slowly gathering rust alongside a spartan dockside in Dubai’s commercial harbour, Port Rashid. At a distance – and that’s how the security guards like to keep inquisitive tourists – the former Cunard flagship looks as if she is ready to cast off at any moment, full steam ahead on what would be her 1,375th voyage. Close up the reality is tragically different. Gone are the glorious days of pre-dinner cocktails in the Chart Room, formal meals at the captain’s table or late nights over liqueurs in the Yacht Club. No longer do bronzed couples on 80-day world cruises spend lazy hours on sunbeds or enjoy unhurried moonlit strolls around the teak deck.

Do you have an anchor in your life?

All photos courtesy of Unsplash 

Do you have an anchor in your life? 

Today, we are familiar with logos, icons, and symbols. They are a simple way of conveying a message. For example, most of us know what the symbol for Wi-Fi is, and when we see a red cross, we know that there is help available for an emergency. One of the early symbols of Christianity was an anchor. For Christians, Christ is the unfailing hope of all who believe in him. Pictured on the epitaphs of first-, second-, and third-century believers, it symbolized the hope they had for this life and the next, and so the symbol of the anchor was adopted as the symbol of hope. The anchor was also regarded in ancient times as a symbol of safety. In the Bible, the gospel message teaches us how we can be ‘safe’ or ‘saved’.