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Heavy Seas

At 3:40 a.m. on July 19, 1950 in a typhoon in Tsushima Straits between Japan & Korea a wave came over the bow and rolled me down the deck. The webbing at the rail kept me from going overboard.

Five months later we were bucking 50 knot winds for ten days from Yokosuka, Japan to Midway Island. The sea carried away our port bilge keel and our motor whale boat.

This was on the USS Brush (DD745).

This is a preamble to two great miracles of heavy seas in the Bible. In both cases the crew thought the ship and the boat were going to sink.

“Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard, and the raging sea grew calm. At this the men greatly feared the LORD, and they offered a sacrifice to the LORD and made vows to him.” Jonah 1:15, 16

The sailors knew this was a miracle. They knew that the wind may stop but the sea does become calm at the same time.

“One day Jesus said to his disciples, "Let's go over to the other side of the lake." So they got into a boat and set out. As they sailed, he fell asleep. A squall came down on the lake, so that the boat was being swamped, and they were in great danger. The disciples went and woke him, saying, "Master, Master, we're going to drown!" He got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waters; the storm subsided, and all was calm. "Where is your faith?" he asked his disciples. In fear and amazement they asked one another, "Who is this? He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him.” Luke 8:22-25

As with Jonah’s sailors these fishermen knew that it was not coincidence. That could explain the wind but could not explain the water. They saw the cause and effect.

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