Could This Dramatic Ocean Rescue Reveal a Clue as to How God Works?

Posted on Sep 15, 2020 Topic :
Posted by : Andrea Jo Rodgers

Dispatcher: “Request for first aid near the Wesley Avenue Beach for a person with heat exhaustion.”

Alec Waters, Mason Chapman, and I had just returned from the beach a few minutes earlier, where we had responded to a first aid call for a young man with abdominal pain from heat cramps.

We found our patient, Sally, sipping a bottle of cold water that one of her friends had given her. “I’m okay, honestly,” she said. “I’m going to drink this water, and then my friends are going to take me home.”

I handed Sally our refusal form, which she promptly signed.

***

Hearing some sort of commotion behind her, Terri Cromwell put down her book and took off her headphones. Suddenly, a movement just beyond where the waves were breaking caught her attention. She glanced toward the left and noted that the beach chair where a young woman with had been sitting was empty. Acting on an almost automatic level, she found herself walking over to an older gentleman sitting to her right.

“Excuse me, I know this sounds crazy, but I thought I might have just seen something out there, but now I don’t see it. Have you noticed anything unusual?”

“Honestly, I think you should tell a lifeguard right away,” he replied. “Maybe it’s nothing at all. And then again, maybe you truly did see someone who needs help.”

***

Dispatcher: “Please stand by at the Wesley Avenue Beach for a report of possible swimmer in distress.”

Mason pulled a portable radio out of his pocket. “We’re on location. We’re clear from the last call.

The three of us quickly headed across the sand, closer to the water’s edge.

“Someone thought they may have seen someone in distress, but they weren’t sure,” I overheard one bystander say to another.

Is someone out there? If so, the poor person is already under water. The lifeguards will have to painstakingly search until they come across him or her.

Suddenly, one of the lifeguards shouted, “I have someone!” Several of them pulled the person’s head above the water’s surface and began working their way toward the shoreline.

I quickly cranked our oxygen bottle to 15 liters while Alec finished setting up the bag valve mask. Seconds later, the team of lifeguards dragged a young woman with long hair toward us. Her face was a ghastly shade of gray, while her lips were white. She looks as though she may have been under for a while.

The young woman lay completely motionless on her back, her eyes closed. But as soon as we rolled her to her side, she began retching water.

“One of the cops said he thinks her name is Stephanie Bradford,” a lifeguard said. “He’s trying to confirm it right now. He’s checking the ID found in a bag by an empty beach chair close to where she was found.”

Although her eyes remained closed, Stephanie began thrashing her arms and legs. I hoped it was a sign she was regaining consciousness.

Stephanie’s coughing eased, and she grew still. Then, unexpectedly, she opened her eyes and sat bolt upright. “What happened? Who are all of you?”

With those two gloriously lucid questions, I knew Stephanie was going to be okay. We transported her to the hospital, and she went on to make a full recovery.

Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him.

The night before Herod was to bring him to trial, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries stood guard at the entrance. Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him up. “Quick, get up!” he said, and the chains fell off Peter’s wrists.

***

Then the angel said to him, “Put on your clothes and sandals.” And Peter did so. “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me,” the angel told him. Peter followed him out of the prison, but he had no idea that what the angel was doing was really happening; he thought he was seeing a vision.

Acts 12:5-9

This scene in Acts 12 demonstrates that God may answer our prayers via the actions of angels. Stephanie made a desperate plea to God for help, and many people on the beach were also praying for her. Thanks to an alert bystander, an outstanding team of lifeguards, and a first aid crew who happened to be in the right place at the right time, all the pieces fell neatly together as God orchestrated the remarkable rescue of one of His children.