High waves crashed along the sandy beaches of South Carolina. Up and down the coast, radios were broadcasting small-craft warnings, telling pleasure boaters of dangerous water conditions and high winds.
About then two teenage boys pushed a fourteen-foot sailboat through the surf and quickly jumped in. The boat had no sail, and the boys hadn’t brought a radio, flares, drinking water or any other gear that might help anyone find them. They planned to go only a short distance from shore. However, the ocean had other ideas. Unknown to the boys, they had launched their sailboat into a riptide. This is a strong, surface current flowing outward from shore.
The riptide and strong winds swiftly carried the boat out to sea. The boys tried with all their might to paddle against the current, but it proved too strong. Soon they were out of sight of land and had been carried out into the great ocean current called the Gulf Stream. This current flows from the Gulf of Mexico northeast to Scandinavia.
When the boys didn’t return home that night, their families contacted the Coast Guard, and immediately a “Search and Rescue” mission began. A Coast Guard computer specialist entered all the available information into a computer program that analyzed the wind and ocean currents and predicted the area where the boys would most likely be found. The Coast Guard searched this area with boats, planes and helicopters. Many private citizens also joined the search, which continued for five days. Each day that the boys were not found, the search area was enlarged, until finally it covered over a thousand square miles of ocean.
The families of the boys waited anxiously for news. On the sixth day they got word, but not what they wanted to hear. The Coast Guard Commander told them there was almost no chance of finding the boys alive, and the search was called off.
Do you know that God is searching for you? He has not called off His search, because He loves you. Perhaps you never realized that you are lost because of your sin. One leak can sink a great ship to the bottom of the ocean, and one sin is all that is needed to take a sinner to hell. To make a way for you to be saved from your sin, God sent His Son into the world: “The Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world” (1 John 4:1414And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world. (1 John 4:14)). If you don’t know Christ Jesus as the Saviour of sinners, you will continue to be lost. There is nothing you can do in your own strength to escape the results of sin. Just as the boys were unable to get back to shore by their own efforts, a sinner is unable to remove his guilt before God.
The Lord Jesus said, “The Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:1010For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. (Luke 19:10)). Seeking for you, He went all the way to the cross, where He died so that your sins can be forgiven. The Lord Jesus’ coming to earth and dying on the cross was all part of God’s “Search and Rescue” mission for lost sinners. His plan is all of love and kindness, for none of us deserve what He offers us freely as a gift. The moment you call out to the Lord Jesus in faith He will save you. “Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Romans 10:1313For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. (Romans 10:13)). The sins which would have kept you out of heaven will be forgiven.
The Coast Guard gave up the search for the boys too early. Drifting on the ocean currents, they were still very much alive. The sun beat down on them throughout the day, burning their skin until it blistered. To find relief, they would jump in the water and swim near the boat. However, sharks were soon drawn to the swimmers, and the boys would have to climb quickly back on board.
Without water to drink, the boys were becoming very weak. Sometimes they would gargle using seawater to relieve the dryness in their mouths, but seawater is undrinkable, and they could not quench their thirst with it. They also became hungry. One of them caught a jellyfish and ate parts of it. The strange flesh eaten raw made him sick for a long time afterward.
For six long days the boys drifted on the ocean currents. Sometimes dolphins frolicked near them, and the sight of these playful creatures gave them hope that all might yet turn out well.
Late on the sixth day, one hundred and eleven miles away from where they started, a fishing boat named the Renegade spotted the boys and brought them on board. The teens were then transferred to a Coast Guard ship where they got medical attention and made happy telephone calls. When one of the fathers heard his boy’s voice on the phone, he shouted with joy, “It’s my boy! It’s my boy! He’s been found! He’s been found!”
The families of the missing boys rejoiced when they were found alive. Did you know that there is joy in heaven when a sinner repents and turns to God? “I say unto you, that . . . joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth” (Luke 15:77I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance. (Luke 15:7)). Joy is what heaven is all about! Death and sadness abound in this old world, and joys seem few and hard to find. In heaven joys abound, and death and sadness will no longer exist. If you repent and turn to the Saviour, you will be on the road to heaven and will begin to taste some of the joys of the happy place to which you are going. Won’t you come to the Lord Jesus Christ? Don’t let another day pass before you let Him save you.
ML-10/02/2005