“cool off”. The nearest decent beach was Cable Hut on the Bull Bay Road. I didn’t know at the time that many so-called swimmers had lost their lives to the wicked undertow, that could drag you out to sea if it held you, and you were not a very strong swimmer. It was a very windy day and the waves were very high. A middle aged “English” looking gentleman said he would love to take a dip but he wouldn’t go in by himself. In my youthful exuberance I volunteered to go in with him. We swam out about sixty to eighty metres then decided to turn back. When I tried to turn back I couldn’t!! The undertow got hold of me and was pulling me out to sea. I told the gentleman that I was in trouble and asked if he could help. That was the last I saw of him. I learned later that he was also struggling and was afraid that we would both drown if he came near me. So it was me and the LORD, alone. Having first decided to give up and accept that it was my fate to drown at sea, my foot touched a rock. That spurred me on to keep going. I made up my mind not to give up, then that was the last thing I remember. My next memory was waking up on the beach surrounded by people cheering “He’s Alive, He’s Alive !!”. There is quite a bit more to the story. Only to say that I was seen to be swimming out there, fighting the undertow (unknown to me) and a young gentleman on a tyre tube managed to get to me, put me on the tube, and we both came ashore. I knew nothing of all of this.
God had kept me alive. I resolved that since God must have kept me alive for some purpose. I felt a call to continue working with children, particularly in the Church, and also to do what I could to help the underprivileged. This would be the practical working of my Salvation. I have been teaching in the Sunday school at Boulevard Baptist for over 20 years. Also, in the 1990s we started the Prison Ministry at Boulevard Baptist; I led a team of Church men to General Penitentiary (Tower Street) for several years, moving later to the Tamarind Farm prison in St. Catherine. We offered counselling, advice, prayer, as well as a word of exhortation. We sourced second hand computers for the warders at GP and taught the basics of Word Processing and General Computing. God has a purpose for all our lives. He has never failed me yet! I continue to seek His will for my life daily in prayer. I urge you all to look to Jesus to discover His purpose for your life, and recommend that you pray daily for the grace to fulfill that purpose.
Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved - (Acts 4:12)
6.