“You’ll never make it! Don’t go out into this storm! I’m telling you, it’s madness, and you’ll be throwing your lives away!” A retired sailor pleaded with Joshua James as he followed him into the boat barn where the lifeboat was kept. Outside a violent storm howled, with giant waves pounding the beach.
“We’ll make it,” Joshua snapped back through gritted teeth.
The year was 1878—the last days of the great sailing ships. A giant hurricane had battered the coast of New England for days. In a last-ditch effort to avoid being wrecked on shore, five ships had dropped their anchors off the coast.
From bitter experience, the local town folk of Hull knew that the five ships were doomed. In the powerful storm, it would only be a matter of time before the anchor lines snapped or the ships would begin to drag their anchors. Then the boats would smash on the rocks, resulting in the deaths of all on board.
Joshua knew the lives of the people on the ships were in his hands. If he didn’t go out into the storm, the ships’ crews and passengers would all perish. But no one would blame him if he didn’t go.
“I can’t order you to come with me,” he said, addressing his life-saving crew. “It’s dangerous, and there’s a chance we might not make it, but I am going to try ... even if I go alone. Who will come with me?”
Joshua James didn’t have any “give up” in him when it came to rescuing lives. Thank God there is a Saviour who doesn’t have any “give up” when it comes to saving souls. The Lord Jesus came from the glories of heaven to this sin-troubled earth. With courage far greater than any other man, He faced hardships and dangers without hesitating. He obeyed God’s will perfectly in all things, even when it meant going to the cross. At Calvary, He gave His life so that you and I—sinners—might have a way to escape the punishment we deserve for our sins. “The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:2323For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:23)).
Joshua’s question to the life-saving crew brought a quick response. Each man immediately agreed to follow him out into the frightful storm.
As they hauled their lifeboat onto the beach, the roar of the surf was deafening. Rain and sea spray, whipped by the wind, stung their faces and made it hard to see. With Joshua at the tiller, they launched the lifeboat into the pounding surf.
The eight men strained at the oars. The lifeboat rode the giant waves like a roller coaster, often disappearing in the giant swells. Men watching on shore would gasp with relief when the lifeboat would reappear. After an hour of pulling at the oars, they were only halfway to the first boat. But then the wind suddenly became so fierce that the lifeboat was driven back to shore in only a matter of minutes.
Lesser men would have given up after suffering this setback, but not Joshua. Once again he launched the lifeboat.
By changing direction, the lifeboat finally made it to the first ship, which was heaving up and down on the wild seas. When the side of the ship was lowest in the water, Joshua would yell out the order for his men to draw close to the ship, and a passenger was dropped over the side into the waiting lifeboat. The passenger would free-fall several feet to be caught by one of the lifeboat crew. Then, before the ship would heave out of the water again, the lifeboat crew would strain at their oars to move the lifeboat out of the way of the ship, so it wouldn’t smash the smaller lifeboat to pieces.
The storm showed no sign of letting up. After carrying a load of passengers to shore, time after time, Joshua and his men put out to sea to make the dangerous trip back to the doomed ships.
On the last trip, the exhausted crew didn’t have the strength to pull on their oars to avoid the rocks on the coast. A giant wave lifted the lifeboat and smashed it against large boulders. Those in the lifeboat were only saved from disaster by the quick thinking of the men on shore who linked arms to make a human chain so they could pull the struggling passengers, crewmembers and lifeboat crew out of the water.
In a feat never to be repeated in records of lifeboat rescues, Joshua James and his men brought every crewmember and passenger from the five ships to the safety of the shore. The rescued men and women knew they owed their lives to the lifeboat captain who wouldn’t quit.
Our lives are full of storms, and no one will live forever. The worst storm a sinner will face is death and then God’s judgment. Before you face that storm, won’t you trust in the One who not only loves you and cares for you, but also has the power to save you? Christ Jesus died and rose again that all who believe on Him might receive the gift of eternal life. If you believe on Him, you too can have the promise of heaven. Apart from faith in Christ, there is no other anchor that will keep you safe; there is no other Saviour for sinners. Only the Lord Jesus can deliver you and me from the punishment we deserve for our sins and make us acceptable for heaven. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:3131And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. (Acts 16:31)).
ML-12/20/2009