Stories of heroes, battles, and risk-takers inspire us.

This is one of the reasons in my weekly newsletter I share a story of strength every week… hearing a story of someone’s feat of strength and courage helps us get off the couch and get into action.

This week’s story is about Ferdinand Magellan, the first explorer to circumnavigate the world.

Magellan, born in 1480, was a Portuguese explorer who eventually sailed under the Spanish flag.

I suppose this was pragmatic more than anything else. The King of Portugal refused to endorse a western trip to the Spice Islands (east of Indonesia), while the King of Spain was more than willing to do so.

When he was 39, Magellan and his fleet of 5 ships left Spain and set out west for the Spice Islands.

This adventure is difficult for a modern mind to comprehend.

This wasn’t a cross-country road trip, or a long weekend of deep sea fishing.

This was an uncharted trip across oceans with 2-years of supplies while commandeering 5 ships with 270 rowdy sailors.

Here are some of the stories of what happened along the way:

• One of the fleet’s 5 ships was lost to a storm.

• 3 captains led an attempted mutiny against Magellan. 

• Magellan found a channel through Chile that allowed him to cross from the Atlantic to the Pacific. This route is typically foggy, cold, hazardous to cross, and it took Magellan 38 days to find his way through it to the Pacific.

• When Magellan entered the Pacific Ocean, he expected a three to four day journey to Asia… and he was off by about 3-months. 30 men died crossing the Pacific due to lack of provisions.

But the most interesting question of this story is this: what motivates a guy to do something like this?

Magellan’s mission was to find a sailing route west to the Spice Islands instead of taking the eastern route. Which he accomplished.

But why did he do this?

Was it for glory? Notoriety? For spices to make his breakfast tacos extra tasty?

While the complete historical answer to this question is outside the scope of a website for Christian men interested in fitness… I do want to offer one observation in the form of a question that is of particular interest to Christians.

When Magellan made it to the Spice Islands, what did he do? Did he load up with spices and immediately go home?

He stayed in the area and taught the people there about Jesus.

In fact, after Magellan spent several weeks in the Philippines, there were over 2,000 converts to Christianity.

Food for thought. And put some spices on that food.

“The sea is dangerous and its storms terrible, but these obstacles have never been sufficient reason to remain ashore”

– Ferdinand Magellan’s evaluation of the ocean’s dangers