Monday, April 5, 2010

Memorial Box Monday: Sinking Fast!

It is time for another Memorial Box Monday! Linny over at A Place Called Simplicity started the wonderful Monday posts where people share the stories of God's faithfulness and intervention in their lives. Go visit or link up and share your own stories! They will strengthen your faith!

God brought to mind today an experience Joel and I went through many years ago. In fact, it was 1975 and we were living in The Philippine Islands, where Joel was a meteorologist for the Air Force. A group from the base chapel decided to go on a tour of the island of Corregidor in the Manila Bay, where you can still see the aftermath of the war with Japan. To get to this island we had to cross the ocean in a banca boat. As you can see by the photo below, they are narrow boats with outriggers that keep the boat balanced in the water. A small motor propels the boat across the water.

I grabbed a small life jacket as we all climbed into the 3 person bancas and headed across the sea. Our trip over was uneventful, and the tour was very interesting, but on the way back to the main island, our boat's motor stopped running right in the middle of the Philippine Sea. As the other boats got farther and farther away, Joel and I waited for our young non-English speaking boat guide to fix the motor. Soon the boat started taking on water, and the young man handed us rusty cans while gesturing to us to bail water out of the boat! As we bailed he continued to work on the motor, scooping out a can or two of water once in awhile himself.

Joel and I started praying as we scooped water from the bottom of the boat as fast as we could. We tried not to think about the choppy waves, possibility of sharks, or the 1 life jacket for 3 people. We just kept praying and bailing....It seemed to go on forever when suddenly we saw another banca boat coming back across the bay towards us! An older man came up to us, tied our boats together, and as we continued to bail, he pulled us across the water and back to shore. We had a lot to give thanks for when our feet touched that sandy shore.

I think I will need to find a small banca boat to put in my new Memorial Box as a reminder of how God saved us from a sinking boat in the ocean that day. This story is a great reminder of how God works in every detail of our lives. Whether we find ourselves on the ocean in a sinking boat, or just dealing with life's circumstances that have us pleading for help...God is there for us. He will rescue us! We are never alone.

8 comments:

Mom Of Many said...

Okay, I was holding my breath as I was reading that. *gulp*

I am so thankful that God brought a rescue for you and Joel and the guide.

You are a blessing and I want you to know that we are still praying for you....Liberty especially remembers each day we pray together...you are loved!! xo


Thank you for posting again!!

Fliterary said...

Goodness, I can't imagine how scary that must have been. So glad everything worked out well, and I do love the reminder that God is always there -- even when we are praying and bailing like crazy.

Praying for you, sweet Renee!

Verlyn said...

I love your story; I have a similar story that I'll be sharing soon on Memorial Box Monday. God is so good to rescue in times of such peril.

Kat said...

I love the vision of God saving our sinking ships (or so it feels at times). How cool how God watches out for us all!! Awesome!

Renee said...

Thank Linny for stopping by. And many thanks for the prayers from you and your children. How special that is !

Renee said...

Hi Lisa
Thanks for coming by Lisa and for your continued prayers.

Renee said...

Hi Verlyn
Thanks for coming by here...Look forward to reading your post too,

Renee said...

Hi Kat
Thanks for coming by.