A TV crew for Animal Planet's
show River Monster was out on the sea filming last November. Suddenly, they came across a man on a largely deserted
Australian island. The team was trying to solve the mystery of a plane that had
crashed killing all six aboard near the Gulf of Carpenaria.
It is a large, shallow sea enclosed on three sides by northern Australia.
The director of the Inside
Edition program stated that, while doing their research, a semi-naked man came
running from a cave waving his arms in the air. Apparently he had been out
fishing when he decided to leave his boat to go find better oysters. But when
he tried to walk back on the hot beach he was overwhelmed by the sun, suffered
from sunstroke and was unable to go any further.
No one knew Tremine, a roofer
from Borroloola, Australia was even missing. He had
been stranded without supplies for almost 3 days. After his unlikely rescue, he
revealed that he had said his last prayer and was “prepared to die”. And had the TV crew not showed up when they
did, he would have likely perished there all alone.
It is hard to imagine how it
would feel to be in this particular man’s boat. No pun intended. Of course
there was the physical discomfort and his emotional pain of second guessing why
he put himself in the position to die helpless and alone. This man was literally
facing the real life circumstances portrayed in a so-called reality show on the
Discovery Channel called ‘Naked and Afraid’. This program finds two strangers
dropped off in a hostile wilderness environment with literally nothing. They
must then use their wits to survive for 21 days. The difference here is that
the show does have emergency medical and rescue crews in the area if anything
goes really wrong. And for the record, I don’t recommend the program because of
the inappropriate and graphic content as the title reveals.
But it was encouraging to
hear Tremine state that he had prayed and was therefore ready to face death. To
some that may sound simplistic and just wishful thinking. And that may, or may,
not be the case depending on what that prayer is and to whom it is addressed!
In Luke 18:10-14, Jesus
shared a story of two men. Both prayed and the details of their words are
recorded as is the result. Verse 10 begins, "Two men went up to the temple
to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with
himself, 'God, I thank You that I am not like other men — extortioners, unjust,
adulterers, or even as this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that
I possess.' And the tax collector,
standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his
breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me a sinner!' I tell you, this man went down to his house
justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be
humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."
In this account, the Pharisee
prayed to emphasize his own supposed righteousness before God and thus why he
deserved to be justified based on his own good works or lack of sin. But the
man who was seen as a sinner most in that day admitted his
own sinfulness and that it was God’s grace alone that could forgive him and make him spiritually right. Both
prayed. Both prayed to the same God even. But only one prayer resulted in true Biblical justification. These few verses epitomize what so much of the world does
not grasp as far as what legitimate salvation is all about.
If there is one verse that
sums this all up better than any other, it is Ephesians 2:8-9. It is the passage
that led my own mother to Jesus Christ many years ago. The Apostle Paul writes,
“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it
is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” Redemption is about faith and grace - period!
I sincerely hope that this
rescued roofer from Australia, not only prayed to God in those
desperate hours, but that he prayed the right prayer to the right God as did
that desperate tax collector back in Jesus’ day. And those who do the same
today, no matter what terrible circumstances may befall them, need never be
afraid of facing anything alone including standing before their Creator some day. They are never truly alone now and then!
"For He Himself has said,
"I will never leave you nor forsake you ." So we may boldly say: "The LORD is my helper; I
will not fear. What can man do to me?"
(Hebrews 13:5-6)
Bill Breckenridge
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