Longggggg time ago (in the 60's) my dad hired out as mate to a private boat, which docked at The Morehead City Yacht Basin. The boat was a nice boat, but it was really slow.
The owner took the boat offshore fishing one day, but there was a strong southerly current. The captain was not very good at his job, and as a result he lost his bearings and when he got back to the sight of land, after dark, he did not know that he had drifted about 25 miles south of his home port. He wanted to go into this strange port, but daddy convinced him that it could be very dangerous. As it turned out, daddy was right, of course. The radio on the boat had stopped working and they could not contact anyone. Daddy told the captain that they should just drop anchor and wait until morning, since the weather was good.
Obviously our family became concerned when daddy did not get back to Morehead. We called the Coast Guard and they sent a search plane from Elizabeth City to search our coastal area. The plane searched all the way past Swansboro. As it turned out, the boat was anchored off of Bogue Inlet. Daddy, having been a signalman in the US Navy was able to send signals and then semaphore messages early the next morning, but no one responded to their call for help. Actually, the plane flew right over them, but never saw his signal light.
Our family was up all night waiting for news. I had received a marine band radio one Christmas and I monitored the CG calls most of the night. I also sought God in prayer. We never got any good news from the CG, but God showed me that He was taking care of daddy and the boat. I told that to my family. I am not sure that they were terribly impressed with my "religious" view. Still, I knew that daddy was going to be fine.
The next morning daddy was able to communicate with a fishing boat and get definite info on their location. He also asked them to radio the CG to notify his family that they were safe. We got word and waited eagerly for his return to shore.
It was a harrowing night for the family. And it was also agonizing for me, to think that I had lost my dad at sea. Of course, Divine comfort quelled my fears and sustained me. It was terrible to be separated, but it was good to know that we would be reunited.
There are fathers today who are lost in a sea of self orientation, detached from the moorings of God and unaware of their dangerous location. There are children and other loved ones who are watching through the night of sin as fathers drift further and further from the shore of safety.
God knows where the lost are located. God can reach the lost. God can save the lost. But those who are lost in sin, separated from God and His people are not trying to reach the harbor of hope. They have set their course by faulty information and have refused to cry out in repentance. There is no promise that they will turn their eyes upon Jesus. We have the hope that God will reach out to them, but they still need to come to Christ.
I was blessed to have my dad return from a night, "lost at sea." I am hoping he was on the right course when he weighed anchor from this world and passed away. I look forward to seeing him on heaven's shore some day. Until then,
I miss you daddy,
I love you daddy.
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