ocean 2I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have so that no one can take away your crown. The one who conquers I will make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he will never depart from it. (Revelation 3:11-12)

A friend of mine, Pete Schichtel, was a U.S. Coast Guard pilot flying a search and rescue pattern off the Florida coast. Twenty-four hours earlier, a hired boat driver abandoned two women while they were SCUBA diving. They surfaced to find themselves in the middle of an empty sea, no boat in sight.

“Lord, keep them safe,” Pete said as he squinted into the empty blue. “We need your help.”

The sun lowered to the horizon and time was running out. The victims could float with their inflatable dive vests, but they would succumb to hypothermia in the night, if they hadn’t already.

Halfway through a grid tack, Pete caught a glimmer of something in the water. Maybe a couple of floats used for commercial fishing. As he investigated, he realized it was the divers waving pink and green swim flippers.

“Praise God!”

A short time later, the survivors were pulled from the water by a helicopter.

I, too, am abandoned on the ocean. While I was busy exploring the world, Satan drove away and left me to drown. Now I’m bobbing on an empty sea with no help in sight.

Jesus prophesied about rescue, but how long will that take? Will I survive until he comes?

In the mean time, the only thing keeping me afloat is faith. The watery tracts pull at my legs, I’m swamped by waves and tugged by currents, and I cling to my small belief.

I tried the flotsam and jetsam of the world, but it sank when I put my weight on it. Faith is the only option left to me. To let it go is to yield to death without hope. 

No one else can save me, only Jesus. I have to clutch faith in him to my chest, stop flailing, and wait. He promised he’s coming soon.

Prayer: Savior, strengthen my faith to hold on.