“Lord, I’m drowning! Save me!”
Harry, a middle-aged fisherman from Alaska, has one thing at least in common with Peter, the fisherman of the Gospels. The Lord Jesus reached out and saved him in the midst of a raging storm.
Harry had heard the gospel from missionaries who came to his isolated village on the Alaska Peninsula. But steeped in alcoholism he chose to ignore the message.
One day when out on the ocean, waves from a violent storm threw him out of his boat. In the water, when he thought all hope of rescue was gone, he cried out in desperation and lifted his heart to God. Out there in the salty sea he asked the Lord to forgive his sins and come to dwell in his heart. God heard Harry’s prayer, saved his soul and then miraculously rescued him from the briny deep.
But that was just the beginning of countless mercies and blessings that came into Harry’s life. First, God took away his desire for drink and completely delivered him from his sinful habits.
Then as a result of his conversion, his wife and several of their children came to Christ. Today, Harry is a bright Christian and his testimony extends into several villages beyond his own. He praises the Lord and stands as a lighthouse to those who are still struggling with drugs and alcoholism.
Sparsely populated Alaska is not the kind of place where gospel meetings draw huge crowds. Here a Christian’s work for the Lord is more likely to be an individual, person-to-person effort.
But one by one, as Alaskans do come to the Lord, their changed lives carry a bright witness among their friends and neighbors. We, as believers, can pray for those who, like Harry, have come to Christ and want to spread the gospel in their communities. Many times they have to stand alone with very little Christian fellowship until, slowly, others in their villages come to the Saviour. S.G.N.
ML-10/07/1979