Fishing Testimony

A few weeks ago on a Saturday morning, my father and I went
out fishing at St. Marks. We decided that the wind was bad and that the fish
weren't biting. We were leaving St. Marks, to go to Bald Point, and noticed the
car was acting odd. To make a long story short, it died and we got stuck at
Jerry's Bait and Tackle. I decided to try calling my mom who was supposed to
have left for the family reunion. It just so happened that she had gone back in
to get something she forgot. That small block of time was the only chance we
had of reaching her. She could not come, but she got my Uncle to go out there
and pick us up while the Cadillac got towed.

We got back to the house around 1:00 pm. We ate lunch, put
our fishing supplies in the other car, and went back to St. Marks. We got down
to the shore around 3:00pm and noticed the water was unusually high. I started
trudging out to the fishing jetty (which was now covered in waste deep water).
I noticed a man standing out there holding on to two rods and realized it was
the same guy who was there in the morning. I figured he was leaving, so I went
back to looking down through the water to watch my step. About halfway to where
he was, he called out to me "May I ask you a favor?" I responded in a
puzzled fashion "Sure ?". I looked up to him and realized that he had
not moved since I first noticed him and that he was shaking intensely while
holding on to the two rods. He then said "I have Parkinson's disease, my
medicine wore out. I'll be fine in a few minutes, but could you please carry my
tackle and bucket to shore?" He handed me the bucket and I turned around
to head back. My father had caught up and figured out something was not right.
They talked for a bit till I got back. We ended up helping him back to shore.
He could barely walk because of his condition, and the rocks and high tide made
it even harder. After getting him to shore we gave him a drink to take his
medicine with and my father escorted him back to his car. He insisted on
driving himself, and after a brief chat, they parted ways. My father found out
that he was a Christian too and that he had been out there for "Maybe an
hour".

Throughout the rest of the fishing we did not see any other
anglers, or fish for that matter…The next day my father went out fishing again.
He ran into some people who were there on Saturday too. They said they left
around 2:00 and that the man we helped was getting ready to leave. He really
did stand out there for an hour. I did not comprehend how serious the situation
was until then. He had enough strength to stand and barely enough balance, but
if a large wave had hit him….he might not have made it. If our car had not
broke down, we would not have been there at three o'clock….and like I said, we
didn't see any other anglers the rest of the day. I would hate to be tested the
way that man was, and I was thankful that the car breaking down was the worst
problem we had that day. You can see in this that God's "finger
prints" were all over that day, from the small time opening that I was
able to call my mom to get a ride, all the way to us going back to fish. It is
funny how God will use bad situations (such as the car breaking down) and use
it to fulfill a need somewhere else.