By Christian Jagitsch
This was different. Harrison Okene was used to waves, but not like this. “What’s happening?” he wondered as he stood in the little tugboat’s bathroom. He had never felt anything like this before. It seemed as if the boat was tilting beyond the point of being able to right itself again. Then it happened. The entire vessel completely flipped over. The winds today were apparently a little too much to handle.
All of a sudden everything went silent. No wind could be heard. Instead, the only sound was the sound of water. Everything was water. Down and yet further down it plunged until it finally came to a rest 100 feet below the surface. Thoughts started racing through Harrison’s mind quicker than a machine gun. What on earth should he do? Obviously, he couldn’t breathe underwater and 11 sailors had already drowned. Soon, he found a pocket of air in one of the toilets. Being he could breathe here, he stopped and sat down in the frigid water with only his underwear on. Then he waited… for a long time. He waited for three days to be precise.
On the third day, he started hearing a new noise. It was a banging sound. He called out for help and, in a few minutes, rescue divers found him. Not only had he survived a difficult situation, he had survived what was considered an impossibility, but how? How did he survive this incredible feat? Was it by luck? He doesn’t believe so. You see, amid disaster, Okene looked to the only person capable of getting him out, God. He once recounted it as “ a sign of divine deliverance”. Even though he could hear the hopeless cries of agony coming from his co-workers, he chose to believe in survival and prayer. This is what he believes saved him. It wasn’t some stroke of luck. It was God.
The best news is that we also have God watching our backs as well. Even in the darkest situations, you can always call out to God. He may not answer the way you expect, but he will never disappoint you. 100 feet underwater and breathing from an air-filled toilet, Harrison Okene chose to turn to God. Would you turn to God?