“There goes Boo!” an excited girl said, pointing over the railing of the Vashon Island ferryboat. Other people soon crowded the edge of the boat to catch a glimpse of the black and white baby orca swimming in the blue water not too far away. Frequent riders on the ferryboat had given the orca the nickname of “Boo,” which stands for baby orphan orca. What a baby she was! She was a year old, twelve feet long and weighed close to one thousand pounds. Even though she was so big, she still was a baby and needed looking after by a mother and relatives.
It had been several weeks since she swam alone into the area. Her mother must have died, and she had somehow gotten separated from her pod of orcas. Now she was struggling to find food to stay alive. Biologists who had approached the baby orca had said the bad odor of her breath was a sign of ill health. She also had patches of flaky skin and looked malnourished.
Many people wanted to help the orphan. They didn’t want this beautiful creature to waste away and die. They also didn’t want her to have to live in captivity in an aquarium. It had never been tried before, but the biologists decided to try to return the orphan to her pod, over four hundred miles away. They hoped an adult whale from her orca family might adopt her.
Without help, the baby orphaned orca would die. Maybe you never considered yourself an orphan, but any soul who has not been saved by believing in the Lord Jesus is very much an orphan. If you have not placed your faith in the Son of God, you are still in your sins and cannot in your heart know God as your Father. Anyone like this might be called a spiritual orphan. Boo was in trouble and in danger of perishing, and every soul outside of Christ is in danger of perishing in a real sinners’ hell. If the Lord Jesus is not your Saviour, will you look at your danger and turn to Him who is waiting to save you? “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:1212Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. (Acts 4:12)).
The moment a person believes that the Lord Jesus died for their sin, the blood that was shed on the cross washes them clean, and the Holy Spirit comes into their hearts and makes them a child of God, and He becomes their Father. “Because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father” (Galatians 4:66And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. (Galatians 4:6)). How wonderful it is when a soul comes to Christ and learns of the Father’s love!
Boo also had another name. Biologists keep a close watch on the orcas in the Pacific Northwest. When a new baby is born, they give it a number as well as a name. Boo’s number was A73, and they had named her Springer. They could also identify which orca pod she belonged to, because each pod makes a different chirping sound when they swim. Springer belonged to Apod, which spent a good part of the year off the west coast of Canada in Johnstone Strait.
After weeks of swimming alone, the time to rescue the baby whale finally arrived. Men in a rowboat coaxed Springer into a fish pen. Enclosed in the fish pen, biologists fed her a steady diet and gave her medicine to make her healthy. Being well cared for, she rapidly put on a hundred pounds.
Springer spent a month in the pen growing stronger. At last the whale experts decided she was healthy enough to make the journey to her birth pod. Men in wet suits jumped into the water and guided her into a type of sling. She was hoisted onto the deck of a waiting boat and placed in a tank of water. The fast-traveling boat carried the whale the many miles up the coast of Canada to the Johnstone Strait. The trip took over fourteen hours.
Upon reaching the strait, Springer was lowered into another spacious pen that was stocked with salmon especially for her. She was there only a few days when she heard the chirping sound of her birth pod of whales. She became so excited that she leaped out of the water and loudly chirped back. The pod of whales was curious and swam closer.
The biologists figured that if ever there was going to be a good time to release Springer, it was now. Would she be accepted? There was only one way to find out . . . they opened the gate and the baby orca quickly swam out.
For a few days her acceptance was in doubt. Springer seemed to follow the group of orcas from a distance. Sometimes when she would see a boat, she seemed to remember the kindness shown to her by humans and followed the boat instead.
Then everything changed for the better. A mature female orca without a calf of her own seemed to adopt Springer. They were seen swimming together, and once the female was seen scolding Springer when she approached too close to a boat.
Everybody was happy when they saw that Springer was accepted by her birth pod of whales and even had one especially caring for her. She will likely grow up to be a wild orca, swimming with her pod along the Pacific Coast. This is what God had designed for her.
God didn’t make you to be a spiritual orphan either. He made you that you might know and enjoy His love and be part of His family. In order for you to become one of His children, you must believe on the Lord Jesus and His sin-cleansing blood shed for you. You don’t have to worry about finding acceptance with God. A believer’s acceptance is all because of what the Lord Jesus has done.
Would you like to become part of God’s family and have the promise of a home in heaven? The Lord Jesus has already paid the price on the cross that God requires for a sinner to become one of His children. “The blood of Jesus Christ [God’s] Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1 John 1:77But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. (1 John 1:7)). “As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name” (John 1:1212But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: (John 1:12)).
ML-12/25/2005