Pastor's Video Blog

This coming weekend is Memorial Day weekend, when we remember those who gave the greatest sacrifice of all – their very lives for our freedom.

For years off the coast of Florida, close to sunset on a Friday night, you could see an old man carrying a bucket of shrimp and feeding the seagulls.  But back in October of 1942, Captain Eddie Rickenbacker was on a mission, a flight across the South Pacific to deliver a message to General MacArthur.  The plane ran out of gas, and they had to ditch it.  They spent several weeks in the open ocean fighting starvation, sharks, the weather……they needed a miracle.

Then one afternoon, after prayers and devotions, they settled in for a nap, and then the miracle happened. A seagull landed on Captain Eddie Rickenbacker’s hat.  They knew if they could catch it, they would survive.  They used the seagull for bait, and they made it.

Years later, Captain Eddie Rickenbacker would be that man walking down the beach with a bucket of shrimp. Feeding seagulls is his way of saying, “Thank you”---a grateful heart for one seagull that saved his life.  In the same way, you and I should be grateful for those men and women who have given their very lives for our freedom.