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 anyway, laying out their seven large nets over the next mile and hoping all would be well.
At 11:00 p.m. a thick fog rolled over the bay, and the waves started 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 tossed their boat clear out of the water and threw 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 Savior.
Exactly 51 years later, on June 30, 1984, Len’s nephew, John, who had graduated from high school that spring, started out with his fishing partner, Mark, for a night of fishing. 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 soon be home.
As the storm grew worse, big waves broke over their boat. 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), so their boat started filling up 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. By then the cabin was full of water and he couldn’t go back to get the other one.
“You wear it,” John offered. “Don’t worry about me ... I know the Lord Jesus as my Savior.”
Soon, their boat sank. Mark wore the only life belt while John hung on to a piece of plywood. He hung on until he was too tired to hang on any longer. About 3:00 a.m. he slipped off the piece of plywood and into the stormy sea. “Greater love [has] no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:1313Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. (John 15:13)).
Early the next morning an old man found Mark, unconscious but still alive, washed up on the rocks at the same spot where Len and Fred’s boat had been thrown 51 years earlier.
We admire the love of John, who was willing to die so his friend could be saved, don’t we? I hope you know the far greater love of God. The Bible teaches us that God loved us so much that when we were His enemies, God sent His Son, the Lord Jesus, to die, so that we could come back to God. “When we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son” (Romans 5:1010For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. (Romans 5:10)). What amazing love! Have you received God’s free gift of salvation?
Messages of God’s Love 7/23/2023