The North jetty reaches 7 miles out into the Gulf and the
South jetty reaches 5 miles out. They
are there to protect the ships from the
rough seas but on occasion can become tools of destruction when a ship loses
power and is carried by the waves and tide into their unyielding and unforgiving
arms.
It was an occasion such as this that I’ll tell you
about.
In the early 1970’s Galveston had a massive shrimp fleet. There were hundreds of professional shrimp boats
that called Galveston their home port.
Some were modern, well-maintained, up-to-date fishing vessels but others…..
well, let’s just say they left a little to be desired. It was usually these less than cared-for
vessels that we were called upon time after time to “rescue”. Usually it was nothing more than an engine
failure and we played “wrecker” and went out and towed them back to port.
On some occasions the gigantic piles of rust would spring a
leak and we would be called upon to use our pumps and equipment and try to keep
them afloat until we got them to a place where they could be repaired.
This particular day’s call went something like this. A disabled shrimp boat had been fishing below
the North Jetty and had lost all engines. The seas were high and the winds blew
hard on the old vessel. Instead of dropping anchor and calling for
help the captain felt that he would just let her drift until he got the engines
going again. He let her drift too far.
His boat was quickly pushed toward the North jetty and just
shy of being crushed on the jetty rocks it ran aground and stuck fast in the
shallow sand. Now the waves had their
way with this old vessel. With her bow
stuck fast in the sand the stern took a beating from the Gulf waves and she
begin taking on water. In spite of all
that the crew could do the ship was going down.
That day we were manning the Coast Guard 44377 motor life boat. This boat was 44 foot long ,self-righting boat. Meaning that if it rolled over in the waves
and if you could hold on and stay
with the boat for about 30 seconds, it would roll back in an up-right
position and continue to run and
function. It had water tight doors and
twin Cummings diesel engines. It was great for rough seas and a fantastic
search and rescue boat.
From the Coast Guard
base to the North side of the North Jetty was about 12 miles. Fighting the wind and waves it took us almost
an hour to arrive on scene. Needless to
say these men were in a mess. Our coxswain
maneuvered our boat as close to the troubled ship as we could get. If we got too close we too would run aground
and be torn apart by the waves. But
there was still a good distance between our boat and the shrimp boat.
We could see the
captain and his two crewmen on the deck.
They had their life jackets on, were soaking wet from the crashing
surf. On their faces were expressions of
the fear that had swelled up within them.
( After 40 something years I can still see the fear in the faces of
those men.) When they saw us pull up
they begin waving their arms and calling out to us. They
expected us to pull up alongside and take them on board. They expected to just jump from their boat
onto ours and be safe and dry. But it
wasn’t going to happen.
“This is as close as I can get Bill”. The coxswain yelled over the roar of the wind
and the crashing of the waves.
The rescue line was long, heavy-duty and weighty. Even being young and in good shape (at that
time) I would never be able to throw that line, that far, in that wind. But in the Coast Guard we had a little thing
called a heaving line. It was a
small, strong line with a round weighted ball on the end. One end would be tied to the rescue line and
the other would be thrown to the shrimpers like a baseball on a string. I
would be able to toss that line to the
shrimp boat They could then pull
the rescue line over, tie it around their waist and jump into the water. My seaman and I would then pull them across
the distance between our boat and theirs and bring them to the safety of our vessel. It wasn’t what they had in mind but that is what we did. With the coxswain holding the 377 steady I
tossed the heaving line and one by one we pulled the crew to safety.
Just another day at the office…that’s what we were there to do. We had been trained and equipped and had
practiced and we did our job. We all
went home alive.
I tell you that little story to remind you of what you and I
as Christians are to do on a daily basis.
Let me see if I can apply it.
On a daily basis, you
and I cross paths with men and women who are in trouble. They may look good and act good and carry on
a good conversation but on the inside their life if falling apart like that old
shrimp boat.
It’s not waves of water that crash in on them and threaten
to sink their vessel. The storm is not
caused by the angry Gulf of Mexico but the storm is caused by a lost job, dwindling
finances, a rebellious child, an unfaithful spouse, temptations that are out of
control or the sickness or death of a loved one. Sometimes it is simply the “daily-ness” of life that has them sinking.
It is these people who will be more than happy to accept the
line that you and I toss them. It is
in the storm that they are most receptive to The Savior.
But you are probably like me. You don’t want to deal with those situations
because you don’t know what to say or you don’t know how to council them. You are not confident in tossing out the
right line. .
In the Coast Guard we had lots of lines. We had big lines, little lines, long lines
and short lines. We simply used the line
that was appropriate for the situation. Let
me just give you a few good “lines” that you might commit to memory or at least
keep close where you can get to them quickly. Toss
these lines out and just see who you might be able to help or pull in.
In LONELINESS: John 14:
18
In DEATH: Psalms
23:4 /
Romans 8: 38-39 / I Corinthians
15:55
In FEAR: Isaiah 41:13
In WORRY: Philippians
4:19 / Psalms 32:7
In TROUBLE: Naham 1:7
/ John 16:33
Also, you know that
it’s not hard for us to talk to someone about the weather, work, sports, news,
or life in general. Wouldn’t it be good planning,
training, practice for Christians to stow away some good “lines” to be able to
use in conversation when the situation presents itself? Let’s see if I can help.
WEATHER:
· Leviticus 26: 4 Then I will give you your rains in their season, and the land shall yield its increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit.
·
Matthew 16:3 And in the
morning, ‘It will be stormy today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ You know
how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs
of the times.
The weather is in God’s hands. There will always be Summer, winter, Spring
and Fall. It is up to Him to give the
weather and up to us to live in it and through it. (Gen. 8:22)
WORK:
·
Genesis: 2:15:
The Lord God
took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.
·
Colossians 3:23: Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the
Lord and not for men
Man was made to work. We should commit our work to God and whatever we do, do a good job of it just like we are working for Him.
HEALTH:
·
1 Corinthians
6:19-20: Or do you not
know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you,
whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price.
So glorify God in your body.
·
Proverbs 17:22 : A joyful heart is good medicine,
but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.
·
Proverbs 16: 24: Gracious words are like a honeycomb,
sweetness to the soul and health to the body
Our bodies do not belong to us,
they are God’s. We should take care of
them, being joyful and speaking kind words are medicine which anyone can
administer.
I’ll leave a little work for you
to do. Make up your own lines. When you enter into a conversation with
someone and you can throw out a heaving line….do it. A simple verse of scripture or statement of
encouragement might be just the thing that they need. They may go down in the storm if you don’t
toss them a heaving line.
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