Reality check...
A friend sent me this in an email. I can not ‘attest’ to its truth or authorship… BUT, it does focus on the Reality that counts…
After a few of the usual Sunday evening hymns, the church’s pastor slowly stood up, walked to the pulpit and, before he gave his sermon for the evening, briefly introduced a guest minister who was in the service that evening.
In the introduction, the pastor told the congregation that the guest minister was one of his dearest childhood friends and that he wanted him to have a few moments to greet the church and share whatever he felt would be appropriate for the service. With that, and elderly man stepped up to the pulpit and began to speak.
“A father, his son, and a friend of his son were sailing off the Pacific coast.” He began, “when a fast approaching storm blocked any attempt to get back to the shore. The waves were so high, that even though the father was an experienced sailor, he could not keep the boat upright and the three were swept into the ocean as the boat capsized.”
The old man hesitated for a moment, making eye contact with two teenagers who were for the first time since the service began, looking somewhat interested in his story.
The aged minister continued with his story, “Grabbing a rescue line, the father had to make the most excruciating decision of his life:
To which boy would he throw the other end of the life line?
He only had seconds to make the decision.
The father knew that his son was a Christian and he also knew that his son’s friend was not.
The agony of his decision could not be matched by the torrent of waves.
As the father yelled out, ‘I love you, son!’ He threw the life line to his son’s friend.
By the time the father had pulled the friend back to the capsized boat, his son had disappeared beneath the raging swells into the black of night.
His body was never recovered…”
By this time, the two teenagers were sitting up straight in the pew, anxiously waiting for the next words to come out of the old minister’s mouth.
“The father,” he continued, “knew his son would step into eternity with Jesus and could not bear the thought of his son’s friend stepping into an eternity without Jesus… Therefore, he sacrificed his son to save the son’s friend.”
“How great is the love of God that He should do the same for us? Our Heavenly Father sacrificed His ‘Only begotten Son’ that we could be saved. I urge you to accept his offer to rescue you and take a hold of the life line He is throwing out to you in this service.”
With that, the old man turned and sat back down in his chair as silence filled the room…
The pastor again walked slowly to the pulpit and delivered a brief sermon with an ‘invitation’ at the end. However, no one responded to the appeal.
Within minutes after the service ended, the two teenagers were at the old man’s side.
“That was a nice story,” politely state one of them, “but I don’t think it was very realistic for a father to give up his only son’s life in hope that the other boy would become a Christian.”
“Well, you’ve got a point there,” the old man replied glancing down at his worn Bible a big smile broadened his narrow face.
He once again looked up at the boys and said, “It sure isn’t very realistic is it? But, I’m standing here today to tell you that story gives me a glimpse of what it must have been like for God to give His Son for me.”
“You see, I was that father and your pastor is my son’s friend…”
Reality check...
After a few of the usual Sunday evening hymns, the church’s pastor slowly stood up, walked to the pulpit and, before he gave his sermon for the evening, briefly introduced a guest minister who was in the service that evening.
In the introduction, the pastor told the congregation that the guest minister was one of his dearest childhood friends and that he wanted him to have a few moments to greet the church and share whatever he felt would be appropriate for the service. With that, and elderly man stepped up to the pulpit and began to speak.
“A father, his son, and a friend of his son were sailing off the Pacific coast.” He began, “when a fast approaching storm blocked any attempt to get back to the shore. The waves were so high, that even though the father was an experienced sailor, he could not keep the boat upright and the three were swept into the ocean as the boat capsized.”
The old man hesitated for a moment, making eye contact with two teenagers who were for the first time since the service began, looking somewhat interested in his story.
The aged minister continued with his story, “Grabbing a rescue line, the father had to make the most excruciating decision of his life:
To which boy would he throw the other end of the life line?
He only had seconds to make the decision.
The father knew that his son was a Christian and he also knew that his son’s friend was not.
The agony of his decision could not be matched by the torrent of waves.
As the father yelled out, ‘I love you, son!’ He threw the life line to his son’s friend.
By the time the father had pulled the friend back to the capsized boat, his son had disappeared beneath the raging swells into the black of night.
His body was never recovered…”
By this time, the two teenagers were sitting up straight in the pew, anxiously waiting for the next words to come out of the old minister’s mouth.
“The father,” he continued, “knew his son would step into eternity with Jesus and could not bear the thought of his son’s friend stepping into an eternity without Jesus… Therefore, he sacrificed his son to save the son’s friend.”
“How great is the love of God that He should do the same for us? Our Heavenly Father sacrificed His ‘Only begotten Son’ that we could be saved. I urge you to accept his offer to rescue you and take a hold of the life line He is throwing out to you in this service.”
With that, the old man turned and sat back down in his chair as silence filled the room…
The pastor again walked slowly to the pulpit and delivered a brief sermon with an ‘invitation’ at the end. However, no one responded to the appeal.
Within minutes after the service ended, the two teenagers were at the old man’s side.
“That was a nice story,” politely state one of them, “but I don’t think it was very realistic for a father to give up his only son’s life in hope that the other boy would become a Christian.”
“Well, you’ve got a point there,” the old man replied glancing down at his worn Bible a big smile broadened his narrow face.
He once again looked up at the boys and said, “It sure isn’t very realistic is it? But, I’m standing here today to tell you that story gives me a glimpse of what it must have been like for God to give His Son for me.”
“You see, I was that father and your pastor is my son’s friend…”
posted by Unchained Slave at 11:19 AM
3 Comments:
Thank You, that hits home!
Just now seeing my own children on the horizon...gives me a little glimpse of what God truly gave up for us!
Thanks agian!
Dave
Hi Dave,
Wow. I can't think of any other words.
This reminds me of a story I once heard about a sailor who fell overboard from the U.S.S. Guadalcanal as it was returning from Vietnam. When they fished him out, he was still trembling and shaking terribly with fear, so they had the chaplain take him below deck.
When the chaplain heard him speak, he used his own story as a parable to talk to him about salvation, and lead him to the Lord. Here was his story, as closely as I can remember it:
When he fell overboard, he plunged into deep, dark waters and was overwhelmed in them. He floundered; he shouted as loudly as he could, but he knew his voice could not be heard. He swam after the carrier as hard as he could, but it's massive dark shape, like a mountain, moved further and further away into the night. He was soon left alone, more than he had ever been or had even thought possible.
But someone on the carrier had seen him. Suddenly the sky lit up with searchlights, and they began combing through the waters in search of him. In the sihoutette that was formed, he saw the massive ship slowing, coming around, and returning to look for him. Other lights came on from everywhere. Helicopters began lifting from its decks and began searching for him too, until they came and found him, and drew him in again.
If you were that chaplain, what would you have said?
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