To the onlookers, some things seem like an empty
ritual, when to the person who is informed, they
seem more significant than life itself. Take ol'
Ed down in Florida. Every Friday evening about
the same time the sun is the size of a giant
orange just about to dip into the water, ol' Ed
comes strolling along the beach to find his way
to his favorite pier. He's carrying in his bony
hand a bucket full of shrimp. The shrimp are
not for him. The shrimp are not for the fish.
Strangely, the shrimp are for the sea gulls.
Ed, alone with his thoughts, walks out to the
end of the pier with his bucket, not saying a
word. But that's where the ritual begins.
Before long the sky becomes a mass of little
dots screeching and squawking, making their way
to ol' Ed there on the end of the pier. They
envelope him with their presence. Their
fluttering wings sound like a roar of thunder.
Ed stands there and sort of mumbles to them as
they're feeding on the shrimp. In fact, he
reaches in his bucket and he throws a few up
to them. You can almost hear him say, "Thank
you. Thank you." Within minutes, the bucket
is empty. And Ed stands there, almost as if
raptured, in his thoughts of another time and
another place. Then, without a word being
spoken, he quietly makes his way back home.
Who is ol' Ed anyway? His full name is Eddie
Rickenbacker. He was a captain in World War II.
He flew a B-17 Flying Fortress. He and seven
other men were sent on a mission across the
Pacific to locate General MacArthur; however,
their plane crashed in the water. Miraculously,
they all made it out of the plane into a life
raft.
Aboard their life raft, they fought the sun and
the sharks. Most of all, they fought hunger, as
all eight of these men ate and drank very
little, until finally by the eighth day their
rations ran out. No food. No water. They
needed a miracle for them to survive.
After an afternoon devotional time, the men
said a prayer and tried to rest. As Rickenbacker
was dozing with his hat over his eyes,
something landed on his head. It was a sea
gull. That gull meant food... if he could catch
it. And he did.
He tore the feathers off and they shared a morsel
of it together. Then they used the intestines
for fish bait. They were able to survive until
they were found and rescued, almost at the end
of their lives.
Later, Billy Graham asked Captain Rickenbacker
about the story, because he heard that that
experience had been used to lead him to a
saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. Rickenbacker
said to Billy, "I have no explanation except
God sent one of His angels to rescue us."
Ol' Ed never forgot. He never stopped saying,
"Thank you." Every Friday evening for years
until he died, he would go to that old pier
with a bucket full of shrimp and a heart full
of gratitude for the rescue to say, "Thank
you. Thank you. Thank you."
