The brittle and the unbreakable

Many years ago, Mark Eberhart from MIT wrote a fascinating book entitled “Why Things Break.” By explaining how things come apart, he helps us understand our world.

Most people will tell you the Titanic sank in the waters of the North Atlantic because it hit an iceberg. But the ship was designed to handle such a collision without sinking. To be sure, too few lifeboats compounded the Titanic’s situation, with no binoculars for lookouts and a captain who persisted in racing through dangerous waters when other ships had anchored for the night. But the brittle metal in the ship’s hull proved the ship’s undoing.

The steel in the Titanic was produced in acid-lined, open-hearth furnaces in Glasgow, Scotland. This furnace did not remove the sulfur and phosphorus in the steel, both of which are impurities and weaken the metal. Had manganese been added, manganese would have formed a sulfur-sulfide and blocked the weakening effects of the sulfur. When samples of the recovered ship were examined, it was discovered that the steel in the Titanic contained twice the safe amount of sulfur and four times the phosphorus but only half the recommended amount of manganese. As a result, the metal was brittle–not so much that shipbuilders in Belfast, Ireland, noticed, but still brittle.

Eberhart explains, “All steels are brittle. The question is, at what temperature? Pure iron is ductile at room temperature, but cool it to cryogenic temperatures and becomes as brittle as glass.” The water temperature in the North Atlantic that night in 1912 was -2 degrees C. When the ship and iceberg collided, the hull’s metal should have absorbed the energy by rupturing perhaps two watertight compartments. However, in the icy water, the brittle metal did not consume the energy “until the fractures had propagated along one hundred meters of hull.” Fifteen hundred people perished that night due to the brittle metal that formed the hull of the Titanic.

Many people are brittle. In sunshine and prosperity, they stand tall and look like a million. They radiate confidence and talk a great game. Let disaster strike, and they will shatter into a thousand pieces, never to recover. Perhaps a business bankruptcy, a betrayal of a long-time spouse, or a loved one’s illness and departure. Brittleness happens. Why? In the steel of the Titanic, brittleness resulted from the presence of impurities and the absence of strengthening metals. Brittleness in people can often be traced to impurities in their lives coupled with the absence of fortifying agents.

This time, we’ll look at the UNBREAKABLES. Adversity only makes them stronger. Ted W. Engstrom says: Cripple him and you have a Sir Walter Scott. Lock him in a prison cell and you have a John Bunyan. Bury him in the snows of Valley Forge and you have a George Washington. Raise him in abject poverty and you have an Abraham Lincoln. Strike him down in infantile paralysis and he becomes Franklin Roosevelt. Deafen him and you have a Ludwig van Beethoven. Have them born black in a society filled with racial discrimination and you have a Booker T. Washington, a Marian Anderson, a George Washington Carver. Call him a slow learner, “retarded,” and write him off as an uneducable and you have an Albert Einstein.

Through the Scriptures, we are introduced to a select group of believers of the unbreakable variety. Think of Joseph– brutalized by his brothers, sold into slavery, deceived and thrown into prison, and forgotten. In time, he emerged as the champion of Egypt and the hero of his family. There’s Moses– betrayed, exiled, forgotten, hounded, opposed, and harassed. Yet, no one in Kingdom history rises above him in stature. There’s the Apostle Paul. We have his own words to describe the stresses he endured in serving Jesus.

He has been imprisoned, beaten, and nearly killed numerous times. He endured 39 lashes five times, beaten with rods three times, stoned once, and shipwrecked three times. He faced dangers from rivers, robbers, his people, and Gentiles; dangers in the city, the wilderness, and at sea; and betrayal by false brothers. He’s had sleepless nights, hunger, cold, and exposure. And then he says: “Despite these hardships, we remain hopeful; though perplexed, we trust God’s guidance. We are persecuted but not forsaken, struck down but not destroyed. Our sufferings echo Christ’s, manifesting His life in us. As we face death for Jesus’ sake, His life is evident in us, bringing you the best even through our worst.” (II Corinthians 11 & 4; The Message)

What is the secret of God’s unbreakable ones? What made Paul unbreakable? Whatever it was, it also worked for Joseph, Moses and others. What’s the formula for the steel in God’s unbreakable saints?

1. Less and less of me. I am the impurity.

2. More and more of Him. Christ is my strength.

As the popular church song says: “He will carry you through.”

Francis Kong’s “Inspiring Excellence” podcast is now available on Spotify, Apple, Google, or other podcast streaming platforms.