One Story’s Power

One Story’s Power

[God] saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit. Titus 3:5

Just before we left for Wednesday-night service, I received word my cousin, whom I’ll call Eddie, had committed suicide. I drove to church in an emotional fog, pondering details of the shotgun blast, the collapse into his mother’s arms.

At church, I dropped my children at their classes, then slipped into a back pew. I tried to listen as Dr. Hess taught, but I was too worried about Eddie’s soul.

Then Dr. Hess interrupted himself. “That reminds me of a story,” he said, and he launched into an account of the crew of a nineteenth-century whaling ship: Two of the sailors were Christians who shared their faith with the crew members. Most of their fellow crew members either ignored them or attended their Bible studies. But one sailor cussed them repeatedly.

One afternoon the angry sailor was coiling ropes on the deck just as the ship pitched dangerously, tossing him and the ropes overboard. The crewmen scurried to pull the ropes up, wondering if he would still be in one piece. They’d seen this happen to crew members before.

As they hauled his body back on board they were amazed to see he was intact. They rolled him over a barrel to force the water out of his lungs. Suddenly, he spewed seawater, then coughed, fighting for breath. Finally he spluttered, “I’m saved! I’m saved like those two!” And he pointed toward the Christians.

“When I hit the water and felt the ropes tighten, I knew I was a goner,” he said. “And I knew if those guys were right, I was going to have to face God alone. Just before I blacked out, I thought, Jesus, I’m sorry. Please stand with me. Now I’m saved.”

Dr. Hess concluded, “He went on to live a godly life. But if he had died in the ropes, the Christians would have thought he had gone to a Christless eternity. We are not to judge the destination of another’s soul.”

As he turned back to the lesson, he said offhandedly, “I don’t know why I told that.”

But I knew. Maybe in Eddie’s final moments, he had remembered our grandmother’s pleas to turn to Jesus. Maybe the Lord was wiping tears of regret and repentance from Eddie’s eyes at that very moment.

Later, I told Dr. Hess how much I had needed his story—and the Lord’s comfort. —SANDRA

Lord, thank you for speaking through others when we need encouragement and hope. Help us to be sensitive to the prodding of your Spirit when you are asking us to offer that same strength to others.

It is not your hold of Christ that saves you, but his hold of you!

—CHARLES HADDON SPURGEON (1834–1892), BRITISH PREACHER