Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: How to be Saved (07/02/26)
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TITLE: No Life Jacket | Previous Challenge Entry
By Jack Taylor
07/04/26 -
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Then, Brian, a veteran sailor and former airline pilot, spotted five bodies floating on their backs like a raft of otters. None of them wore lifejackets. They needed to be saved. “Call the Coast Guard,” he screamed against the wind. “I’ll swing the dinghy over to where they are.”
“Mayday! Mayday!” Dorothy yelled into the mic.
The Victoria Coast Guard radio relayed the message to vessels in the area. “The Malaika is reporting five people in the water near the tango alpha buoy.” When people need saving, all resources are unleashed.
Brian pulled close to the swimmers and commanded, “Swim to the dinghy! Swim to the dinghy!”
Three of them fought the waves and made it, clinging to the rope. Six rescue vessels launched to cover the 18 km journey from Richmond to the buoy. A Canadian Coast Guard hovercraft ‘Siyay’ arrived and picked up another swimmer. The last hand of the five disappeared. A helicopter and a fixed-wing aircraft from 19 Wing Comox hovered overhead, along with an RCMP helicopter. A B.C. ferry, the Queen of Alberni, halted its run to participate in the search and rescue. A Hullo passenger ferry circled the area. Private vessels churned through the waves to the site.
20-knot northwest winds, coming aggressively down the strait, with an ebbing tide, and aggressive Fraser River outflow combined for a dangerous situation with a 30-foot overcrowded charter.
Four other men and two women who had left the village of Steveston on the sunken fishing charter remained unaccounted for. 90 minutes had passed. Hypothermia impacted the four survivors as they were shuttled to the Sea Island Coast Guard Station and then to local hospitals. Language issues impeded communication. They were likely fans in the area to celebrate the FIFA World Cup.
“This is something I’ll never forget,” Brian told members of the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre in Victoria.
At 9:15 pm, the search was reluctantly abandoned. It was clear. You can’t save everyone. If only the passengers had been wearing life-jackets. A 26-year-old man and a 33-year-old woman were discharged from the hospital, but a 22-year-old man and a 28-year-old woman remained in critical condition.
A single hand unleashed a rescue. But how could that one life be saved?
Someone had to notice another's peril and care enough to intervene. They had to sacrifice themselves and their plans to reach out. They had to alert the world to step in and support the rescue effort.
This all reminds us of what God has done for us in Jesus. He saw us launch out into dangerous waters, trusting in those who couldn’t be trusted. Depending on a vessel that couldn’t protect us. Preoccupied with the pleasure we imagined. He saw us, and he cared. God did not just happen to be in the vicinity of those in peril. In the person of Jesus, he intentionally knew the desperate reality we faced. He understood the turmoil of the sea we sailed on.
He moved to share his presence, his provision, and his protection against the harshness threatening to destroy us. Instead of a rope to cling to, he called us to the life-saving power of the cross. He called on his family's resources to rally and work for the healing and hope needed.
In the true story above from last week, others scanned the surface with binoculars and failed to see all those who needed to be saved. As a result, six out of ten perished.
We have a heavenly Father who sees all, who knows all, and who is all-powerful. He is able to move directly to where our heart cries for rescue and to meet us there. To draw us to himself. To pull us out of the dangerous seas and situations we are drowning in. We do not even have a life jacket of any kind to help ourselves. He provides that life jacket in Jesus.
To be saved, we need to recognize our peril, see our rescuer, trust his provision, and reach for his presence. Perhaps the most important prayer we can utter is “help!” He will come.
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