Memory Verse: “The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust.” Psalm 18:22The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower. (Psalm 18:2)
Len and Fred shoved their boat away from the breakwater at about 5:30 on the evening of June 30, 1933. They were off on their usual night’s work—salmon fishing in the Bay of Fundy.
By the time they reached a good area in which to fish, they were about ten miles from shore. Fred was beginning to worry about the dark clouds forming above them, but they went ahead slowly for the next mile, laying out their seven large nets and hoping all would be well.
At 11:00 p.m. a thick fog rolled over the bay, and the waves began to get high. The two men began hauling in their nets. They soon discovered that the rough water had dragged another fisherman’s nets on top of theirs, and the nets were badly tangled. There was nothing they could do but cut the nets and pile all of them in their boat. Then they started the engine and headed for home.
Suddenly a huge wave broke over the boat, half filling it with water and making the engine die! As fast as they could, they put their nets out again, hoping the nets would hold the boat steady in the rough water. But about 2:00 in the morning they realized they were drifting and found that the storm had loosened the nets from the boat. Now there was only one thing left to do: put up a sail and try to steer for the harbor.
But it wasn’t long before they saw that it wasn’t the harbor they were headed for. In the early morning light they could see the cliffs looming up through the fog, with waves as high as trees smashing against them. Len and Fred were losing their battle with the sea.
It looked hopeless. The men were sure the end was near for them. Len asked Fred if he knew where his soul would be in eternity.
Fred answered, “I guess it’ll be all right.”
“You’ve got to be sure about it!” insisted Len, yelling above the noise of the storm. “I’m just a sinner, but I know the Lord Jesus has washed away all my sins in His precious blood. Just tell Him what a sinner you are, and ask Him to save you. Then you’ll be safe for all eternity too.”
In another moment a huge wave picked their boat right out of the water and flung it up on the rocks, standing it on its backend and flipping Len and Fred out onto the rocks beyond it. The two men were bruised but safe.
Fred thought a lot about how the Lord had saved him from death that night, and later he trusted in the Lord Jesus as His own Saviour and could say, “The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer.” Psa. 18:22The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower. (Psalm 18:2). “The Lord.... set my feet upon a rock.... and He hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God.” Psa. 40:1-31<<To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.>> I waited patiently for the Lord; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry. 2He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings. 3And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the Lord. (Psalm 40:1‑3).
Exactly 51 years later, on June 30, 1984, Len’s nephew, John, who had graduated from high school that spring, started out with his partner, Mark, for a night’s catch. Again a storm came up. The boys maneuvered their boat, already taking on water, into the mouth of the St. John Harbor. John called his mother on the two-way radio to let her know that they were entering the harbor and would be home soon.
As the storm grew worse, waves were breaking over their boat. Because the two boys had forgotten to clean out the scuppers (openings in the side of a boat that allow water falling on the deck to drain out), their boat was filling with water and sinking fast.
Mark ducked into the cabin to get the life belts. He thought he had both of them, but he had only grabbed one. It was too late to go back to get the other one.
“You wear it,” John offered. “Don’t worry about me... I know the Lord Jesus as my Saviour.”
Their boat sank.
Mark wore the life belt while John hung on to a piece of plywood. He hung on until he was just too tired to hang on any longer. About 3:00 a.m. he slipped off his piece of plywood into the stormy sea.
Early the next morning an old man found Mark, unconscious but still alive, washed up at the same spot where Len and Fred’s boat had been thrown up on the rocks 51 years earlier.
Now it is almost June 30, 1988 four years closer to the time when the Lord Jesus is coming. Are you ready? If you were in a sinking boat on a stormy ocean, or if the Lord Jesus were to come today, where would your soul be? Are you safe on the Rock, Christ Jesus? Have you told the Lord Jesus you are a sinner and let Him wash your sins away and save you for all eternity? If you haven’t done it yet, do it now.
ML-06/26/1988