One year, Daniel, his wife Denise and their four children went on a long trip to several South American countries. Along the way, they welcomed Carla, Pedro, and Raul, three recent high school graduates from Bolivia and Peru, to accompany them to Quito, Ecuador. These teens helped the family distribute gospel calendars and tracts to share the good news of Jesus’ love with others along the way. After a long bus ride, they arrived safely at a friend’s cabin on the Pacific Ocean coast in Ecuador.
The next morning, after a hearty breakfast, they all walked down to the beach for a Bible study. The weather was hot and humid. The tropical sun shone brightly, making the beautiful waters of the Pacific Ocean look invitingly cool. The waves were about three feet high. Daniel was used to big waves, as he grew up near the ocean, but he explained to all that no one was to go in the water without him, because this area of the ocean was known for dangerous riptide currents.
Daniel wasn’t feeling very energetic. Denise, knowing how much he enjoyed the ocean, suggested he go out for a swim. Marie volunteered to go with him, and Pedro also wanted to go. Daniel asked him if he knew how to swim in large waves at the ocean. He said he did, so they all went into the ocean.
The water was delightful. After splashing around a bit in the medium-sized waves, a large wave with about a six-foot face was about to break on them, so Daniel said, “Let’s just dive under the wave so it won’t crash on us!”
As soon as they came up from that wave, there was a bigger wave, and they had to go deeper to dive under that one. Suddenly, Daniel realized that a strong riptide current had them in its grip. Pedro began to hang onto him. As Daniel glanced toward the shore, he saw John coming. He called out over the roar of the ocean, “JOHN! NO! GO BACK!” But it was too late. He could not swim back against the powerful current, and it soon carried him to the others. The shore started disappearing as they were swiftly carried out to sea. Daniel explained to Pedro, Marie and John that they were caught in a riptide and needed to swim parallel to the beach and slowly edge toward the shore. Pedro then admitted that he didn’t know how to swim that well.
Now they were in real trouble. Daniel could see their group on the beach for a brief moment when on the crest of a wave, so he waved his hands back and forth vigorously across each other, trying to signal for help. They happily waved back, thinking he was having fun. Unknown to him, Marie was also signaling for help. Their children had been learning sign language and she signed “Help!” by making a fist with one hand, placing it on top of her other flat hand, and then lifting both hands a few inches above the top of the wave before she disappeared down in the trough of the wave again. But no sign of help was to be seen.
They prayed earnestly asking God for His help. Daniel sang the words to the chorus of a comforting song in Spanish:
He will hold me up,
He will hold me up;
For my Savior loves me so,
He will hold me up.
As he was treading water, a terrible thought came to Daniel. If I let go of Pedro, I think I can save my own children. They can swim. If I don’t let go of Pedro, we cannot make it back to shore, and we will probably all drown. He prayed, “Oh, Lord, what should I do?”
John and Marie obeyed his instruction to float, first taking a deep breath, then leaning back and resting and keeping air in their lungs with short little breaths.
After several minutes, Daniel’s strength started failing and for the first time in his life, he thought he was going to die. He told Marie, “I am not going to make it. I cannot continue.”
“Oh Dad, no! Please, keep on! Oh look!” She pointed toward the distant shore. It was then that Daniel saw them ... two young men running toward the ocean with short surf boards.
Unknown to them, Denise had become alarmed to see how quickly they were being pulled out towards the ocean. When she saw Marie signaling for help, she knew there was trouble. Heart pounding, she told the group on the shore she was going for help. She could see a group of people a distance away down the beach and started running, legs feeling like jelly, calling “Auxilio!” (Help!)
As she approached a group gathered in front of the open-air restaurant, she pleaded for someone to help. They all responded that they didn’t know how to swim. She asked if there was a way to send a boat out to help. They pointed to the boisterous waves and replied, “What are you thinking? In those waves?”
At that moment two young men appeared from inside the restaurant, holding two short surf boards, saying they knew how to swim and would try to help. They ran with Denise down the beach.
Out in the waves, Daniel didn’t know where the strength came from, but a little more energy came into his arms and legs to keep treading water in hope that the young men would be able to reach them before it was too late. Because the waves were so big around them, they did not see the rescuers being pushed back repeatedly by the waves as they tried to get through the breakers. It seemed like an eternity before Daniel saw a rescuer coming toward him. He reached out, put his arm over the board, and passed out. He didn’t remember anything else until much later when he seemed to hear voices from a distance, and his daughter Maurita’s little voice asking, “Is Daddy dead yet?”
He opened his eyes. There was a circle of people standing around him, waiting for some response. There was his wife that he loved. There was his family, and there were a lot of other people that walked away, thankful, but not knowing how close four people had been to eternity.
Pedro thought he knew how to swim until he faced those huge waves and a riptide current as well. Do you think you are ready to die and to face God? When we come to die, we need to know for sure that we are ready. The only way to be ready to face God is by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, who died for our sins. Like Daniel, who would not save himself so he could save Pedro, the Lord Jesus died, not saving Himself, in order to save you. But just as it took a clear call for “help” for those in this story to be saved from dying in the ocean, you need to call on the Lord to save you from your sins. “Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Acts 2:2121And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. (Acts 2:21)). He always hears anyone who calls on Him to be saved!
Messages of God’s Love 1/12/25