On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast. For six hours straight, the winds blew at speeds of over 120 miles per hour. Several inches of rain poured down. In some places the sudden rise in water level was 40 feet high. It swept inland, flowing over buildings, walls, and just about everything in its path.
Gulfport, Mississippi, has a Marine Life Oceanarium where visitors can see all sorts of sea animals. The favorite part of the Oceanarium for most visitors is the dolphin show. The workers at the Marine Center had been warned about the approaching hurricane. They were able to move some of the dolphins to pools of water farther inland on higher ground where they might be safer. But they ran out of time and had to leave eight dolphins in the large pool to face the hurricane alone.
When the tidal surge swept over the Marine Center, the dolphins were carried away in the flood. The floodwaters were full of broken pieces of buildings, which made swimming dangerous.
After the hurricane passed, the caretakers returned to the center to find the buildings of the Marine Center completely wrecked. And what was even worse, the dolphins were missing! They searched the nearby waterways and beaches but found no sign of them. They didn’t know if the dolphins were dead or alive. They searched by boat in the Gulf waters but still couldn’t find them.
Some of these dolphins had spent their entire lives in captivity. Their meals had been handed to them by their trainers. They had never learned the skills necessary to survive in the wild. The dolphins were great at doing tricks, but it was doubtful they could find their own food in the Gulf waters.
Two weeks after the hurricane hit, the workers at the center rented a helicopter to search the Gulf waters. After only ten minutes of searching from the air, they spotted the group of dolphins. Soon a boat manned by Oceanarium workers was sent to the area. The workers were overjoyed to find the dolphins, and the dolphins seemed happy to see their trainers. All eight dolphins had stayed together through the disaster. Eight dolphins’ heads arose out of the water to greet their well-known trainers. “As soon as we saw them and they saw us, it was like they were asking, ‘Where have you been all this time?’ They were all over us,” one of the trainers said.
Workers from the boat hand fed the dolphins fish taken from a large bucket. In some of these fish, a veterinarian placed a medicine to help heal the cuts, gouges and abrasions they had gotten from swimming through the debris-filled water.
The hard part now was how to get the dolphins back into a safe environment where they could be cared for. Two of the dolphins with the worst injuries were directed to swim up on a floating mat. From the mat they were hoisted onto the boat and transported to safety. It took two more weeks before all eight were eventually recaptured. Their home at Gulfport had been destroyed by the hurricane, so they were sent to different locations along the Atlantic coast. They lived in these temporary homes for two years, until the Marine Center in Gulfport was repaired.
After the work was completed at the Oceanarium, all eight dolphins were returned to their home for a joyful reunion. If you ever visit the area, you can see these same dolphins happily performing their tricks for spectators.
The trainers spent two weeks searching before they found the dolphins. Do you know God is searching for souls who have been lost in sin?
Souls are lost because sin has swept them far away from the God who made and loves them. Our sins have separated us at a great distance from God, who is the source of all goodness. “Your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid His face from you” (Isaiah 59:22But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear. (Isaiah 59:2)). It is a real separation that puts souls in danger of perishing. To perish is a terrible thing. It means passing out of this world into Satan’s hell.
God doesn’t want anyone to perish, so He sent the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave His life at Calvary. How great is God’s love since He was willing to give the life of His only Son to save sinners like you and me!
When this life is over, He will bring all who trust Him to His wonderful home in heaven. “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:1616For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)).
This is why He is seeking for you. He wants you to be saved and receive the gift of eternal life. Some day in the future, God will gather all those who have believed on the Lord Jesus to live with Him forever in heaven. What a happy reunion that will be, where the joys of heaven will never end.
The dolphins were found and eventually returned home to their happy life in the Oceanarium. Won’t you believe on the Lord Jesus that you might receive eternal life and live in His happy home in heaven?
ML-03/30/2014