God With Us Brings Hope Series

GOD WITH US BRINGS HOPE

Back in 2017, two long time commercial fishermen named John Aldridge and Anthony Sosinski, set out to fish from Montauk, Long Island. The boat was on autopilot. As they headed out to sea, about forty miles offshore, Anthony was sleeping below deck while John started to get things ready for the catch they would soon begin to haul in. He was at the back of the boat pulling on a handle that was stuck. Suddenly the handle snapped, sending him falling off the back of the boat.

Since the boat was on autopilot it just kept going. As soon as John resurfaced from under the water, he began screaming for help. He knew that there was no way Anthony would ever hear him. He watched as the boat went up and over the crest of a wave, and then it was gone. He was alone, treading water in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, without a life vest, thinking this was the way he was going to die.

Can you imagine what that must have felt like? If there’s ever been a hopeless situation, that has got to be it. Or is it? As John was trying to calm down and quiet his thoughts of certain death, he realized that his boots were very buoyant. Then he got an idea. He took one off, emptied it out, and pulled it back into the water upside down so that it created an air pocket. It floated! So John stuck his boots under his arms as flotation devices. At least he could stay afloat. A flicker of hope.

John thought of his family and knew that no one, not even Anthony, knew what had happened. No one knew where he was, except maybe the two sharks that were swimming about fifteen feet away. He tried to set goals, starting with just living through the night and making it until morning. Four hours later back on the boat, Anthony woke up and realized John was gone. He called the Coast Guard. The Coast Guard began its search procedures, even though the Coast Guard commander admitted he didn’t have much hope of finding John in so much open water.

Anthony found the broken handle and knew what John must have been doing when he went overboard, which also meant he knew the ocean depth of where he would have been doing it. That helped narrow the search. John made it alive to morning and tried to keep his hope alive. But the hours kept passing, and there was no sign of help. Finally he spotted a fishing buoy and was able reach it and climb onto it. This was a new surge of hope. Less than an hour latter a Coast Guard helicopter flew nearby and spotted John waving and splashing. They pulled him up to safety. “We’ve been looking for you for nine hours,” the Coast Guard rescue diver told John. He answered. “Well, I’ve been waiting for you for over thirteen hours!”

Miraculously, John Aldridge survived. What an amazing story of hope. If it were most of us out there bobbing alone in the middle of the ocean, we probably would have given up hope that there was any chance of survival. But hope is like that. Hope is the whisper that maybe, maybe these boots will float if I turn them upside down. If I can just make it through the night… maybe help will find me.

What is hope in your life? Today is the first Sunday of Advent and we are starting a new series called God With Us. God With Us brings hope, love, joy and peace. Today we want to talk about hope. Advent is the season of hope. The word advent means “coming” or “arrival,” and the season is marked by expectation. The waiting, anticipation and longing for the coming of Christ. Advent is a season that links the past, present, and future. It looks back at the longing that was fulfilled when Jesus was born in a manger 2000 years ago while also remembering and anticipating the fact that one day Jesus will come again.

Christmas is a wonderful time of the year. It is a celebration of God’s gift to us. It is a reminder that God’s present to us is His presence with us. To really understand Christmas we have to start at the very beginning. The journey of hope begins at creation. God created us to be in relationship with Him. In the beginning Adam and Eve walked freely and openly with God. He was with us and we enjoyed wholeness and intimacy with God. But you know the story. Adam and Eve chose sin which divided us from God. The result was the brokenness of our world that we know today.