Even today tea is not as popular a beverage as coffee in the United States. That is probably not surprising, when one reflects on a major episode in our revolutionary history involving rich men paying thugs to dress as Native Americans, commit criminal trespass on a commercial ship, and destroy its cargo.
In the nineteenth century, great clipper ships travelled a course of 14,000 miles of ocean to bring cargoes of tea from China to Britain, often competing informally as to who might be first to the London dock. In 1866, one hundred fifty years ago, there was an official Great Tea Race, which pitted five great ships against each other for prize money. The Taeping arrived a scant twenty-eight minutes ahead of the second-place Ariel, but with owners' and agents' consent, gracefully shared the prize money. Soon the advent of the faster and more efficient steamships would displace sail-driven craft. And opening of the Suez Canal shortened the journey by 3,300 miles. But the Great Tea Race stands as the ultimate experience of the glorious clipper ship era, and a tribute to the human spirit.
It is amazing what can be accomplished when humans are motivated. Usually the stronger of the motivators is power or greed, as we experience constantly. Wouldn't it be wonderful is people were more motivated to build the Kingdom of God? What if we could race to a finishing line at which people were ensured of health care, education, housing and other fundamental needs? What if we got serious about the things Jesus was serious about?
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