My Encounter
My Encounter
Years have passed, yet the roar of
angry waves and crashing breakers still pound in my ears on quiet nights when my
world is still and I am all alone
A group of twelve volunteers from across Canada and the United States was
stationed on the coast of Liberia. Located along a nine-mile stretch of
golden-white sand, the SIM mission station served as a support base for
missionaries working throughout the country. Volunteers were involved in a
variety of areas—teaching, medical work, construction, and electronics.
The final day of our three-month assignment had arrived. At 6:00 a.m., with mist
rising off the ocean, seven friends greeted me at my front door to say goodbye.
We planned to celebrate with a farewell body surf in the foaming Atlantic. Like
board surfing, only without the board, the body surfer waits for a strong wave
and then swims vigorously ahead of it until overtaken and transported on its
crest. The sensation is exhilarating.
The rising sun silhouetted white breakers crashing onto the shore. The ocean
seemed angry, as if she had tossed out of bed on the wrong side of the world. We
stood silently in thought, prayer and admiration. Her thundering voice
challenged our spirit of adventure.
I lingered on the shore, reminiscing with friends. It hurt deeply to be leaving
behind so much, especially a close Liberian friend who had walked ten kilometres
from Monrovia to say goodbye. There was too much to be said and too little time
to talk. Three months ago we were a group of strangers, but now we are a family
and we agonized at the thought of parting.
It was almost time to leave, but I longed to have one final surf. It was to be
my farewell challenge to another summertime companion, the ocean.
I swam out and tried the waves, but they were not high enough. I swam farther,
despite warnings of a strange violence this morning. The waves seemed perfect,
cresting over five feet. I waited for the right lift and started to swim.
Something was wrong. My strokes were barely enough to move me along at all. I
felt the straitjacket constraint of muscle cramps. Why? Was it the emotion of
the hour or the fatigue of a late night?
A wave came and I tried, but failed to swim ahead of it. I was sucked under for
a few seconds before resurfacing. I tried a second wave and then a third—but my
fear brought no surge of adrenalin to motivate my paralysed arms and legs.
I had been in the ocean for more than twenty minutes and was out nearly half a
kilometre. I could see my friends on the bank—figurines on a mantel-piece of
sand—clustered around the broken carcass of an old dugout canoe.
My lungs were beginning to feel as if they would explode! With each successive
wave I was pulled and twisted like a towel in a washing machine. I no longer
knew which way was up. I might never see the sun again. It was much more
difficult to surface each time I went under. The sound of the ocean’s fury was
so loud it was difficult to think. Any hope of getting to shore was gone. How
does one’s life end? Do you just give up and drift naturally into the cold
depths or do you deliberately swallow water? My mind was numb.
In a desperate effort to keep my nose above the surface, I forced my head back
and gazed upward. The morning sky was a perfect blue and the drifting clouds
were billows of white. There, amid the violence, I understood the reality of
faith. Alone and helpless, I heard the Master’s voice whispering comfort, and
His heavens welcomed me. If I had any doubts about what we possess in Christ,
they vanished in that moment. I now understood Paul’s confident mind. The peace
and joy that overwhelmed my soul were greater than the waters that were
overtaking my physical life. The music to the hymn “Coming Home” floated
on angels’ voices through my mind as the ocean attempted to steal the fatal few
centimetres to cover my nose one last time. Had I been able to, I would have
raised my hands in praise from this chapel in the sea.
Then out of nowhere, I heard a human voice. The sound shocked me. It was my
close friend, Dennis, his curly black hair bobbing well above the surface next
to me.
I pleaded with him to return to shore. Why had he come out? I could not possibly
make it back. “Please leave me and go back!”
He refused and shouted above the raging wind, “God is not finished with us yet.”
His inclusive statement hurled a spear into my heart. If I were to drown, would
he remain until it was too late to save himself?
Dennis could see the oncoming waves and he shouted when it was time to try to
ride one.
“Now!” I struggled but the cramps had become more severe. My lungs were bursting
and my heart thudded against aching ribs. Water went up my nose and made my
brain feel as if it were on fire. I went under and was twisted by the undertow.
I hit something! Was it a shark? At this depth we were in the centre of his
dining table. I wanted Dennis to be far away when I surfaced—if I surfaced. Then
I could escape. Not a suicidal wish, just a recognition of my fate.
No, there he was at my side. “That one was no good. Here comes a better one.” I
saw him looking upward and knew he was praying desperately. Then I got another
glimpse of the distant shore and outlines of my friends huddled in prayer.
The wave thundered toward us and I tried to swim. My effort was poor. But then
there was the sensation of someone grabbing me from above by the swimming trunks
and lifting me to the top of the crest. I strained to look but could only see my
friend beside me, moving at the same speed. Suspended from above, as if by the
lines of a parachute, I rode the ocean like
some lightweight
jockey!
Seconds later, I crashed onto the beach. My open mouth was crammed full of sand
and seaweed.
Friends rushed to help and pressed on my ribs. Sand, brine and seaweed spewed
from my mouth. They helped me to stand, and together we stumbled the short
distance back along the beach toward my house.
As I glanced out across the angry ocean, I praised God for the sand under my
unsteady feet, the feeling of safety and the warmth of friends guiding my wobbly
steps. The pain in my chest lessened as I lurched along to the security of my
room. My friends eased me onto a bed, where I slept deliriously for more than an
hour. As reality faded, I whispered a weak thank you to Dennis who stood at my
side.
Today when I consider God’s deliverance from the horror of that
forty-five-minute ordeal, it is the truth that moves me most. He proved that the
death of a Christian can be a time of amazing joy and peace. I know that I have
not believed in vain. I know that He is alive and that we will live with Him
forever.