21/07/2025
What is life?
Life is a mystery that no one fully understands.
It is fragile.
It is fleeting.
It is beautiful, yet terrifyingly unpredictable.
Sometimes it feels like a river, gently flowing.
Other times, it turns into a raging sea.
On July 20, 2025, off the coast of Sulawesi, Indonesia, the calm suddenly turned to chaos.
The KM Barcelona 5 ferry caught fire mid-journey, forcing over 280 passengers to jump into the open sea.
I don’t know if you’ve seen the video, but it’s hard to watch without holding your breath.
Flames tore through the ship like a beast, swallowing it whole.
Smoke billowed into the sky, thick and black, as passengers screamed and scrambled.
Men, women, and children hurled themselves into the merciless waters, desperate to survive.
It looked like a horror movie.
But it was real.
You could almost feel the heat, the choking smoke, and the panic spreading like wildfire.
The cries of mothers not knowing whether to leap with their babies or hold on for just one more second still echo in my soul.
The fear of drowning.
The terror of sharks beneath the surface.
The helplessness in that moment… it was overwhelming.
And yet, even in the heart of that inferno, there was courage.
The crew—the captains, the sailors—stayed behind, urging others to safety.
They chose duty over self.
They risked their lives so that strangers could live.
May God bless their families richly.
What breaks me is this—many of those passengers probably boarded the ferry like any other day.
Some may have even traveled that route countless times before.
But this time, everything changed.
It was just a normal day… until it wasn’t.
Because that’s what life does.
It rarely gives you a warning.
It just happens.
The fire breaks out, and you’re forced to leap.
No time to think. No time to prepare. Just act.
Even after the flames, the sea did not pause.
Other ships sailed on.
The world moved forward.
People continued with their plans.
And that is the sobering truth of life—it doesn't stop for anyone.
Some perish, others survive, but life keeps moving.
We often forget that none of us gets out of this alive.
As Les Brown says, “No one will come out of this life alive.”
We don’t get to choose how or when we die.
It might be at sea, in our sleep, or on a quiet afternoon.
But we do get to choose how we live.
We can live small, or live full.
We can hide behind fear, or face the fire.
You could spend your whole life trying not to die—and still forget to truly live.
The real tragedy isn’t death.
The real tragedy is dying without ever having lived.
So I challenge you.
If you love someone, love them with all your heart.
If you believe in something, stand for it.
If you want to give, give generously.
If you want to serve, serve passionately.
If you’re going to dream, dream boldly.
And if you must die, let it be while you were truly living.
Because the eulogy will not be the same.
You were not created to merely survive.
You were created to shine.
To build something that will outlive you.
To make a difference, even if the clock is ticking.
And it is ticking.
We are not promised the next breath.
So make this one count.
Hold your loved ones a little tighter today.
Speak kindly.
Forgive quickly.
Live intentionally.
Because life is not just short—it is sacred.
May God comfort every family touched by this tragedy.
And may you, reading this now, remember to live before you die.
What does life mean to you? 💭
