Search and Rescue experts claim this story is one for the books. After many hours of treading water and staying afloat, James Michael Grimes was spotted in the Gulf of Mexico and rescued after dark.

Lt. Seth Gross, a search and rescue coordinator for the Coast Guard, said Grimes could have been in the water for as long as 15 hours, “the absolute longest that I’ve heard about — and just one of those Thanksgiving miracles,” he said. (1)

Eighteen family members boarded the Carnival Cruise Ship Valor for a five-day Thanksgiving family cruise. But less than 24 hours later, the family found itself in the middle of a nightmare. 28-year-old James Michael Grimes was not found in his cabin. Earlier that evening, he had left the restaurant for the restroom, and his family must have assumed he had retired for the night. But that’s not what happened.

Grimes has no recollection of how it happened. He said the drink he had earlier was not enough to cause him to be inebriated. He fell overboard late that evening and regained consciousness in the dark of the night, bobbing in the water. He recalls being alone with no cruise ship in sight.

Perhaps Grimes’ family supposed he was getting extra sleep the following day. That afternoon, finding his cabin vacant, they reported him missing.

Meanwhile, through the night, he had been swimming and treading water all alone in the Gulf of Mexico, Grimes said he battled confusion, fatigue, and some sort of creature below. “It came up on me really quick. And I went under, and I could see it. And it wasn’t a shark, I don’t believe. But it had more like a flat mouth, and it came up and bumped one of my legs, and I kicked it with the other leg. It scared me, not knowing what it was … all I could see was a fin,” he told ABC. (2)

Without Strength

Through that night and into Thanksgiving Day, Grimes said, at one point, he grabbed a floating stick and chewed on it to get a different flavour than saltwater. Realizing the weight of his wet clothes, he removed everything, trying to remain afloat.

We can only imagine the aloneness Grimes experienced in such a hopeless situation. With no coastline or boat in sight, no flotation device and no planes flying overhead – what were his chances of staying afloat much longer?

Thanksgiving Day at 2:30 PM, the cruise ship alerted the Louisiana Coast Guard to a missing person and their aircraft, along with multiple crews, began to search vast areas of the Gulf of Mexico. Grimes eventually saw lights from a tanker ship and tried to swim toward it. Just after 8 PM, the crew of the bulk carrier ship CRINIS spotted Grimes in the water and alerted the Coast Guard with the exact location.

Mighty to Save

At 8:25 PM, the Coast Guard Air Station New Orleans MH-60 Jayhawk aircrew lowered a rescuer into the Gulf of Mexico to lift the 28-year-old male from the cooling waters.

“The first thing I actually told (the Coast Guard rescuer) was, ‘I don’t have any clothes on,’ because I didn’t. I … stripped out of everything,” Grimes recalled to ABC. “He said, ‘That’s fine.’ … I was just thinking, ‘Thank you. You are like a guardian angel coming down for me.'”  (3)

That ‘guardian angel,’ said Grimes just collapsed once he put the rescue sling under his arms. “He had nothing left.” He believes Grimes was seconds away from perishing.

After treading water for nearly 20 hours and battling jellyfish, rip currents and shark-infested waters, James Michael Grimes was pulled from the Gulf of Mexico and airlifted to a hospital, where he was released afterwards. (4)

Lt. Seth Gross, a search and rescue coordinator for the Coast Guard, was right when he called it a Thanksgiving Miracle. James Michael Grimes (28) was saved from a tragic death at sea.

Are there spiritual parallels that can be drawn from this amazing story?

So many don’t know how they ended up in the darkness they are in. All they know is that now they are treading the deep and murky waters of life – wondering how much longer they can hold on. For some, it is an issue of mental health, and they require appropriate support. But for all, there is a pressing and urgent spiritual need – we need to be rescued from the ocean of sin and the darkness that permeates our lives from the inside out.

Personal improvement efforts and more disciplined and structured daily lives usually help keep us afloat horizontally and may change the flavour of our lives – like chewing on the end of a stick to change the taste in the Gulf of Mexico – but it does nothing to alter our location or plight on the sea of life adrift from God.

Without Strength

Have you ever tried to save yourself spiritually? It’s not unlike taking one step forward and falling two steps backward. Spiritual exhaustion sets in, and the more one tries, the more hopeless it becomes. There’s no denying the reality – you are losing ground. Rather than growing closer to God, you are increasingly aware of your distance from Him and your helplessness to do anything about it.

Here’s a well-known Bible verse that speaks to one’s inability to save themselves from their sins.

For when we were still without strength [helpless], in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. Romans 5:6

Mighty to Save

We can only imagine the relief that Grimes experienced when he heard the noise of the helicopter getting closer and then the powerful searchlight shining on him in the dark waters. What must it have been like when the rescuer came down, right to his side in the water and prepared him for the upward hoist into the helicopter!

The overarching theme of the Holy Bible is God loves you, and He is willing and able to save you from your sins. Did you know that Christ came down from Heaven to become your Saviour and to make possible your rescue? Grimes said his rescuer was like a “guardian angel.” But when it came to rescuing you from your sins, God did not send an angel. He sent down His Only Begotten Son.

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. John 3:16

This may not be your style of music, but click this link to hear and see the lyrics of the Rescue Hymn – Love Lifted Me

There are verses in the Old Testament that look forward to a day in the future when Christ Himself will demonstrate to the entire world that He is mighty to save. Until then, He is mighty to save individual sinners – one by one, including you. Many other verses speak of God’s might and power.

For the LORD your God is living among you. He is a mighty Saviour. He will take delight in you with gladness. With His love, He will calm all your fears. He will rejoice over you with joyful songs.”  Zephaniah 3:17 NLT

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.  Isaiah 9:6

Behold, the LORD’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or His ear dull, that it cannot hear. Isaiah 59:1

How strong is Christ to save you? He had the power to raise Himself from the dead after He had been crucified. Before His death, Jesus told the people –

No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. John 10:18

Is there any question in your mind about His might and power being sufficient to save you? Not only did Jesus prove He was God by His mighty miracles before His death, He proved by His resurrection that death had no power over Him.

He [Jesus] has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. Hebrews 9:26

If sin is the problem that isolates and separates you from God and causes your darkness, we point you to Christ. He appeared 2000 years ago to die on a Cross for our sins. No other sacrifice could ever put away our sins from God’s Holy eyes.

Would you like to be saved from your sins? We point you to Jesus Christ, who is mighty to save.

Sources:

1. https://www.thepampanews.com/stories/man-who-fell-off-carnival-ship-could-have-been-in-water-for-15-hours-thanksgiving-miracle,18979
2. https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/carnival-cruise-passenger-rescued-abc-interview/index.html
3. https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/carnival-cruise-passenger-rescued-abc-interview/index.html
4. https://6abc.com/carnival-overboard-passenger-cruise-ship-man-james-michael-grimes-abc-news/12518369/