The Starfish Story

David W Ebel: I am David with God Says Yes. This is a special episode because I wanted to tell a quick story. ⁓ years ago, when I was doing kids and family ministry, my wife and I had the privilege of going to the Bahamas to a small island called Man Awarkey, where the missionaries had different small missions for different denominations who all met on the island. I was invited to go and to visit on behalf of one of those groups, and that That group ⁓ was was amazing, precious people. The missionaries were warm and friendly and kind. The island was small enough that if the Baptist had an event, the Baptists would invite everybody and the entire island would go. So if the Methodist did, if whoever had an event, the whole world would stop on that island and they'd all support that event. It was wonderful. I had never seen anything like it, and still haven't since. But I w it was a great i thing. So we did a week of ministry. And the first night of the ministry, we were focusing on kids and families, and ⁓ a family came in, and I want to paint a picture with these words because I think it's important. When we walked into this small chapel, there was a family that walked in, and the pastor looked over at me and says, Don't look now. I really don't look at them, don't look at them, don't look at them. And I said, Well, I'm not looking. Good. These are the people who are the bullies of the island. These are the meanest people we have in the Anti Island Island. He's a fisherman and he's brutal. He cusses and swears and threatens, he cheats and steals. All the other fishermen avoid him. He he has no one who likes him. The kids at school are bullied. The wife looks like she's been through the war. And they never come to church ever, ever, and here they are. We don't know what to do. And I said, relax. We'll just have a fun time. So as we went through our program, ⁓ we would challenge the families to ⁓ the kids to be involved and be to be big kids and play high fun and do all the activities. And then we see to the adults, don't you know don't be you know, don't be one of those long faced sap sucking ⁓ marble sucking out of a gopher hole kind of people. The ones who look like they've been into a lemon and it feel good. We want want we want you to laugh and to have fun and be a kid again. So when we sing our songs, you sing along. If you whatever we do, you do it too. And if you don't, we're gonna stop everything and say, wait a minute, wait a minute. There's a there's a fuddy duddy among us, somebody who won't play by the rules and have fun. And everybody's gonna turn around and go oooh and look at you. So big kids, pay attention, because you don't want to be the fuddy duddy. So we went on and we're singing our songs, and to our shock. Even the mean old fishermen started singing Jesus is the rock of our salvation. His banner over me is love. And the whole room was just terrified. They just didn't know what to think. By the end of this of the program, ⁓ it was time for us to offer Jesus, to invite Jesus into the heart of the of the people who were participating. So with every eye closed, excuse me, with every eye closed and no one looking around. If you need Jesus, raise your hand. And we heard, ⁓ we looked up and there was that man, hand raised, hand shaking, but raised, and a flook on his face of pure determination, almost anger. And his wife looked over and saw it and started sobbing. And his kids looked over and they cried started crying too. And he I said, If you want Jesus, stand up and come be with the pastor. He and he went, And he stood up and his wife and kids stood up gladly, and when they went to the front, pushed everybody out of the way, and they were up with that pastor, and they prayed and asked Jesus in their hearts. It was the high point of the week. People couldn't the island talked about it every day in the greatest sense. It was a great sense of victory to all because that meant if that man had changed, they had a new neighbor and a good friend, no longer a bully and a someone to avoid, no longer a pariah. But a f someone who we could that everyone could enjoy. Well, we noticed that the second night and the third night and the fourth night, he didn't come. The children came, but mom and dad didn't come. And we we hoped everything was okay, but we didn't have anybody to follow up. So the last night, the grand finale, Dad came in with mom and the kids, but they didn't look the same. When Dad came in the first time, his hair was long and grizzled and hadn't been washed in a long time. His beard had things moving around in it. He hadn't taken care of himself to the point he had things living in his long and scraggly beard. He had he looked grey so dirty, and his wife wore clothes that were almost see through, they were so faded and worn out. The kids looked grey when dirty and their clothes were just rags. They came in on the last night, and Dad was wearing it he had his beard trimmed and clean, his hair had been cut, his skin was just as clean as a whistle. His clothes were brand new. Everything about him was different, and his wife had on a beautiful new dress. Someone had done her hair, and she walked in beautifully, and she just came in almost regal, and the kids came in so excited that they brought mom and dad back, and everybody could see the new mom and dad. So we we ended up having a great time. Everybody greeted and hugged them and celebrated with them, and they no longer were avoided, but they were welcomed and encouraged. And at the end, And w astr after we prayed our closing prayer, the gentleman says, I got something to say and I mean he l he's still rough around the edges. And everybody jumped and then they went in ⁓ wait a minute. So the man stood up and says, I got something. And he w grabs his burlap bag and he walks up to the front and says, In front of God and everybody, I want you to know something. I've been angry and I've been hurt for years. Nobody liked me and I didn't like anybody. Matter of fact, I hated most of you 'cause you treated me bad. Not thinking that the reason he treated them bad, they were just being treated bad because they treated he was being the bully and they were just responding. He he just saw that it was a bad thing. He says, But you know something? I gave my heart to Jesus, whether you like it or not. And he changed me, whether you like it or not. And I feel clean and different whether you like it or not. But I like what he likes. When I came home after that program, I looked at our house and it was a dump. I hadn't even noticed how filthy it was. So I took my wife and kids and we went to the mission. And the mission takes on families that are struggling. So we moved in, my pride out the window. We moved in and they treated us great. And they taught us how to c how to bathe and to shampoo and how to do all the things we'd never tried to do before. He cut our hair and gave us new clothes. We were so grateful that the reason why we didn't come on the midnight. the weeks the nights during the week is because my wife and I were doing the dishes to show our gratitude for the new life we were given. But Friday night we couldn't miss because of this. And then he reaches in the burlap bag and he pulls out this He says, You may not know what that is, but the fishermen do. This is a real starfish. It was just like this when he handed it to me. He says, That starfish isn't normal. We who are fishermen know that we get we get well the nets and we get five five legged starfish all the time and throw them back in. But the fisherman who gets a six legged one with perfect legs, that's a miracle in itself because they never happen. We're told that it's one in ten million before you find one. So when a fisherman gets one, they preserve it because that's six years of great harvest. The fisherman God of the sea gives it to us. And that's what's been running my life for all these years. But now I got the great fisherman. I don't need the little fish. So I'm giving it to the evangelist. I'm going to give him my starfish so that he can know how much we here in the Bahamas love him for sharing Jesus. Changed forever, my friends, changed forever. Because we went fishing in the Bahamas for souls. Who knows what can happen where whatever your story is, if you just stop and invite Jesus to change your life. You already know him, get in closer. Don't know him well, find out how to know him well. Get in closer. He says if you go close to him, he will come close to you. If you love him, he'll love you back thousands of times more than you'll ever be loved any other way. Trust Jesus with your life. He'll never be sorry.