St. Timothy Roman Catholic Church in Lady Lake shared an encouraging story in their Aug. 23 bulletin.

“The Church’s Pastor stood up, walked over to the pulpit and, before he gave his sermon for the evening, he briefly introduced a guest minister who was in the service that evening,” the story began.

The pastor informed the congregation that the guest minister was a close friend and would be sharing a story. An elderly man, the pastor’s guest, took the stage and began to tell the story of a father and son and friend who were sailing in the Pacific off the coast but noticed that there was a storm coming.

The storm approached very quickly and the waves were so aggressive that the father was not able to keep the boat from capsizing. The father was only able to rescue one individual but had some difficult information.

“The father knew that his son was a Christian and he also knew that his son’s friend was not,” the story continued. “The agony of his decision could not be matched by the torrent of waves. As the father yelled out, ‘I love you, son!’ he threw out the life line to his son’s friend.” 

The son’s body was never found, but the father knew that he could not take away from his son's friend the chance of an eternity in heaven with God.

“How great is the love of God that he should do the same for us," the story said. "Our Heavenly Father sacrificed his only begotten Son that we would be saved. I urge you to accept His offer to rescue you and take a hold of the life line he is throwing out to you." 

After the old man stepped down, he was approached by two teenagers who said that they appreciated the story but did not see why the father would sacrifice his son’s life if he could not be certain that the friend would come to the Lord.

“'It sure isn’t very realistic, is it?' the old man in the story said. 'But, I’m standing here today to tell you that story gives me a glimpse of what it must have been like for God to give up His Son for me. You see, I was that father and your pastor is my son’s friend.'"

Let this be a convicting reminder to all of us to help lead the lost to Christ and accept his lifeline.