‘Nightmare’ is far too tame a word to describe the disaster that occurred when the luxury yacht was struck by a powerful storm off the coast of Sicily. It was so fierce that it caused ‘waterspouts’ to appear over the sea and the super yacht sank with horrendous consequences for software millionaire Mike Lynch and all on board. Mr Lynch, as we know, had been acquitted in the US in June on multiple fraud charges, over which he had potentially been facing two decades in jail, and it would appear that the small group that had gathered on the yacht had come together at least in part for a celebration of his acquittal.
And then, in a terrible coincidence his co-defendant who was also acquitted in the fraud trial died after being hit by a car while out running two days before. Life, as so many people discover, can prove unbelievably cruel and painful. In fact, tragedies such as these only go to prove that none of us can be sure we will live as long as we would like to, whatever our achievements, our position in society or the size of our bank accounts.
They cannot shield us from life’s cruel vicissitudes. Listening to the news reports of these tragic events I found myself being reminded of some important insights that we find in the New Testament. To begin with we do well to remember that life is short – ‘it is like a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes’ said James, the brother of Jesus.
Dennis Thatcher seems to have appreciated this. I read recent.