“A Story of Fear of Death and Faith”

Once there was a great storm and there was a large cruise liner that was crossing the Atlantic ocean. The ship was being thrown here and there and one of the passengers was terrified and he was yelling and screaming and the crew was trying to keep him calm. He was so afraid that he lost his step as the ship pitched over drastically and suddenly he fell overboard.

He went under and thought he was going to die, and then came up drinking lots of sea water and gasping for breath. Then he started yelling at the top of his lungs and the cruise liner sent out a rescue boat that sped off to find him as he was treading water. Luckily they had good spotters on the cruise boat that keep a sharp eye on the man in the violent sea. And finally rescue boat was able reach him and yank him into the boat, then they sped off to catch up with the cruise liner.
Eventually in the midst of all the tall waves and the pitching they made it back to the cruise liner and were hoisted aboard. And as soon as the man reached the deck he bent down and kissed the floor because he was grateful for making back alive. Then a couple of the crew members took him to the infirmary to have the doctor check him out, but he was totally fine, other than being shook up he was healthy.

The interesting thing is he never complained or had another attack of fear for the rest of the trip. The captain noticed this and went over and asked the man “Are you OK, you were fearful before and now you are fine”. And the man answered “The whole time I was in the water I was praying to God that if I made it back alive I would never be afraid again and never complain. And by God’s grace I was rescued from all the turmoil out there in the sea. From that point on I gave up being fearful and complaining, for you see now I have God with me at all times. For God is at the helm of my tiny ship, and God will guide me no matter what happens. The captain just smiled and nodded his head and said “Yes God is always at the helm of my boat too”.

Many Blessings to Everyone!

Dr. Paul Haider