ONE SACRIFICIAL

GULL

In his twilight years on Fridays, Ed would go to the beach and stand on the end of the pier and take shrimp from his little bucket and fling them heavenward for the air patrolling seagulls to swoop down in delight and catch the crustacean gifts before they descended into the restless waters below. This became an act of thanksgiving on Ed’s part. In his early fifties he was on a personal mission for the Secretary of War to Gen. Douglas MacArthur. In route his plane crashed and Eddy and seven friends were stranded at sea on a small inflated raft. They found a few oranges that were part of the debris from the crash and these were frugally rationed by segments but only lasted for eight days. They were starving to death. Each morning the dying eight would begin their day with a time of prayer and devotion. On their eighth day, weak from food deprivation and dehydration, the men laid back to take a nap. Within an hour of asking God for a miracle on that bleak morning, a seagull landed on the cap that covered Eddie’s eyes. He seized the heaven sent, feathered cuisine and within seconds the gull was defrocked of its feathers and portioned out to the haggard and starving survivors and his inwards were spared for bait to catch more food. That one sacrificial gull served hope and resource for survival. Ed and his surviving friends were rescued sixteen, grueling days later.

Ed went on to return to his occupation as the president of Eastern Airlines and Indianapolis Motor Speedway, but he never forgot the hope and relief that bird and the gift of answered prayer brought. So, on Fridays, Eddie Rickenbacker would make his way to the breezy pier to throw aloft his little gifts of gratitude to hovering seagulls.

Maybe you are a soul that is spiritually starving or you have been barely surviving on the meager rations of spiritual food you have been finding, or perhaps you are one that really appreciates fine Bible teaching. BBN Bible Institute and BBN radio can be a heaven-sent food bar from which you can unsparingly partake of spiritually rich and refreshing nourishment. Two classes that we would recommend to you today are: 21000 The Life That Pleases God and 21600 The Royal Priesthood (a study in the book of Ephesians). Also, you can listen to BBN online radio and hear Christ-honoring music and life-changing Bible programs, available twenty four hours a day, seven days a week (BBNradio.org).