Previous Challenge Entry (Level 1 – Beginner)
Topic: Hope (05/04/06)
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TITLE: S.S. Hope | Previous Challenge Entry
By Vicki Chappelear
05/10/06 -
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One day we heard about a lake that was several miles from our house. We heard the fishin’ was good there, so we thought we’d give it a chance. We strapped baskets to the back of our bikes; filled with our lunches, assorted bait, and other things that might be helpful on a fishing trip. We had developed a way to carry our poles while we rode our bikes. We used belts to secure them to the cross bar, it worked well.
The lake was huge! And very quickly, we realized that if we wanted to do any serious fishing that we would need a boat to take us out to the middle. We sat there with our poles in the water (catching nothing), discussing how we could get to a better place.
We must of looked awfully discouraged because an older man approached us. “Catchin’s not too good here by the shore. You boys need to get out there in the deep parts. Got a boat?”
“No, sir,” we answered. Now we felt even worse because someone had noticed.
“Well, it’s your lucky day! My name is Herbert Baker, but folks around here call me Uncle Herby. It just so happens that I have a boat you boys can use for the afternoon. What’da you say?” he smiled with a twinkle in his eye.
“Yes, sir!” we jumped up. “My name is Jerry and this is Neil,” we both offered our hands.
He lead us to a little dock and sure enough there was a little boat, not much bigger than a canoe, but a boat just the same. We both noticed that it had a name painted on the side of it. We thought that was strange, we knew that big fancy ships had names but this tiny two person boat? Why was a name necessary?
“Sir, ur, Uncle Herby? Why does your boat have a name?” Neil asked, he was never afraid to say what he was thinking.
“Oh, you boys noticed the name, huh?” his face brightened, “Well, I have this friend named Jesus, and when I look at His life, I see He did lots of stuff with boats. He called some of His disciples while they were in a boat, to follow Him. He helped some of His disciples to catch fish when they were at sea. He preached from a boat. He walked on water to get to a boat. He even calmed a storm from a boat while in the middle of the sea. The name of my boat reminds me of the hope I have in Him. My hope is my personal relationship with Him. I trust Him for eternal life in heaven. That’s why I named my little boat the ‘S.S. Hope.’”
We had never heard about Jesus before, and were curious about Him. The rest of the summer, we enjoyed using Uncle Herby’s boat, but most of all, we enjoyed hearing his stories about Jesus. Before school started, Neil and I, both had a personal relationship with Jesus, and we, too, began to understand the hope that Uncle Herby talked about. That summer changed our lives, because a dear precious man was ready to give an answer for the hope he had in him.
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Very enjoyable.