| After a few of the usual Sunday evening hymns,
the church's pastor slowly stood up, walked over 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, an 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 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
the 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 he would 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 the waves.
As the father yelled out, 'I love you, son!', he threw
out the life line to the 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 he 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 could
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 hold
of the life line."
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, the two teenagers were at the old man's
side. "That was a nice story," politely
said one of the boys, "but I don't think it was
very realistic for a father to give up his only son's
life in hopes 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.
Sorrow began to overtake the old man's smiling face
as he once again looked up at the boys and said, "It
sure isn't very realistic, is it? But I'm here today
to tell you that I understand more than most the pain
God must have felt to give up His only Son. For you
see, I'm the man who lost his son to the ocean that
day, and my son's friend that I chose to save is your
pastor."
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