Help!

February 20th, 2021| Topic: RaMbLeS | 0

Last week, Ben Searancke decided he’d go surfing in Karekare, a remote West Auckland (New Zealand) beach.

Unfortunately, the guy lost his surfboard in the process. The ways were strong and crashed him on to rocks—giving him a deep gash on his leg—before washing him ashore further north, in Mercer Bay.

Searancke tried for over two hours to walk out of the bay, separated from elsewhere by steep cliffs. Bleeding pretty severely, he was too weak to accomplish his ends.

About that same time, locals Vanessa Ingraham and her friend Dace Kalnina were hiking on a coastal track high above the beach.

Said Kalnina:

We stopped to take in the view and then we see this man far down on the beach trying to write with his leg something in the sand. He waved at us.”

Added Ingraham:

We wondered if he was being friendly and he started writing H, E, and we figured he was going to write a nice message of hello. Luckily we stuck around. He wrote an L and then a P. At that point he finished writing and he collapsed onto the sand.”

Now worried, they called the United North Piha Surf Club to come to the man’s aid and sent that dramatic photo taken high above the remote bay, showing the man prone on the sand near the single-word message.

Ingraham continued:

The club reacted immediately. They kept calling me back for an update so we stuck around for 20 minutes just to see what happened.”

A rescue crew soon arrived in a jet ski and carried him off for medical attention.The good ladies said they were pleased their outing resulted in someone being helped, though they insisted their role was very much behind the scenes.

Last night search and rescue supervisor John-Michael Swannix:

This guy was very lucky. The message in the sand is not visible from the walking tracks at the northern end of Mercer Bay, so it was very lucky the informant and her friend were at the southern end and able to see it. With Auckland in COVID alert level 3, not as many people are out and about at the moment so it’s also fortunate someone was walking the track at that time.”

Later, a grateful Searancke thanked his rescuers:

I’ve just been through a harrowing experience, so waking up this morning I was feeling very thankful and lucky to be alive. Thank you to those women, the emergency response team, the staff at the hospital, but most importantly the Surf Life Saving Club, who found me and picked me up.”

Cries for help from his people are always heard by God.

Declaring that God is “King” is strong enough, but to add that he is “my King” means that God’s sovereignty is exercised on our behalf.

Yahweh, in the morning, You hear my voice;
in the morning I lay [my petition] to You and wait.
Psalm 5:3

So prayer includes waiting, with the confidence that God gives ear, that he considers, that he attends, that he hears the words, groanings, and cries for help—the voices of his people.

And I—in Your abundant lovingkindness, I enter Your house;
I bow down at Your holy temple in fear of You.
Psalm 5:7

God’s people always have access to him, to his help, and are always in his presence, no matter what. He is a help, indeed!

SOURCE:
New Zealand Herald