A prudent man foreseeth... evil,
and hideth himself... 

     In July 1909 Claude G. Sawyer booked passage on the Blue Anchor Line's vessel Waratah which was sailing from Sydney, Australia to Cape Town, South Africa. While on board Sawyer became greatly alarmed by the ship's sideward rolling motion caused by its top-heaviness. When the vessel reached Durban, Sawyer forfeited the money that he had paid for the remainder of the journey and departed the ship. Shortly thereafter, on July the 28th, the Waratah became so unstable on the high seas that it eventually sank, taking all aboard to a watery grave.
     Just as Sawyer foresaw the doom of the Waratah and took steps to escape it, we also need to take measures to escape "the wages of sin which are death" (Rm 6:23a). Let us therefore "depart from evil," (Ps 34:14) and "sin no more" (Jn 8:11). In so doing, we shall "escape the damnation of hell" (Mt 23:33) and receive "the gift of God which is eternal life" (Rm 6:23b).