It was a beautiful day, a glorious day, as I walked along the Atlantic shore. The gulls were swooping down upon the waves, the sun was shining and the breeze was heavy with the scent of salt.
I was at peace and rejoicing in the beauty, giving thanks to God for the peace and joy that filled my heart. As I bent to study an interesting shell I noticed an old bottle partially buried in the sand. It was old, but perfectly preserved and as I dug it out I was overcome with a strong need to write a message of hope, place it in the bottle and cast it into the sea. The feeling was so powerful that I immediately turned, bottle in hand and returned to my car for pen and paper.
As I sat contemplating what I should write I again felt a strong pull that it was to be a message of hope to strengthen some soul unknown to me. So I began.
Dear Friend,
I hope it is okay to call you friend. I do not know who you are, whether you are brother or sister, I only know that my Lord has burdened my heart greatly to write to you a message of hope and strength, He has even provided this beautiful old bottle, complete with airtight cork to place it in, so I know your need must be great and your heart greatly troubled.
My friend how He loves you, how He cares for you, you are most precious to Him that He would orchestrate all this, me upon a beach, the bottle and Him pressing me so hard to write words of hope and cast them in the sea, all for you, that you might know how greatly you are loved!
Take heart my friend, rest in His love, rest in His peace, Oh how He loves you!
As you read this I assume that you are upon some distant beach. I pray that the sky is as vivid blue for you as it has been for me today, that the gulls are swooping and splashing upon the waves, that the mighty ocean sings solace to your soul as it does mine. I pray you also take delight in the feel of the wet sand on your feet. I pray You feel His presence strongly, sense His delight of you, and know in your heart that all that you see and feel in creation was made for you.
Be strong in the Lord my friend, cling to Him in this trial you face. He will grant you all that you need to endure. Hold on to the promise we have in Him, life eternal, a new heaven and a new earth and Him to be the light there.
Go with God my unseen friend. I hope to meet you one day, if not in this life then in the next.
Your sister in Christ.
I placed the letter in the bottle, sealed it with the cork and cast it into the sea.
Upon the distant shores of Tripoli near the waters edge a man dressed in an orange jumpsuit kneels upon the sand. A masked man in black stands behind him.
The man in black notices a partially buried bottle in the sand and yells at the kneeling man, instructing him to pick it up. Upon seeing that it contains paper he commands the man to remove the note and read the message..............
Minutes later the ocean waters swirl with blood as angels descend to receive the soul of the man who had died upon the beach, died for the crime of loving and following Jesus and for refusing to renounce Him. He died with the name of His Lord upon his lips, under a vivid blue sky, with the gulls swooping down upon the water, with the scent of the salt air in his lungs, and the feel of the wet sand between his toes. He died rejoicing, he stepped into glory while giving thanks.
The man in black is left with the memory.
He is jealous for me, loves like a hurricane, I am a tree
Bending beneath the weight of His wind and mercy
When all of a sudden I am unaware of these afflictions
Eclipsed by glory and I realize just how beautiful You are
And how great Your affections are for me
And oh, how He loves us, oh
Oh, how He loves us, how He loves us all
He is jealous for me, loves like a hurricane, I am a tree
Bending beneath the weight of His wind and mercy
When all of a sudden I am unaware of these afflictions
Eclipsed by glory and I realize just how beautiful You are
And how great Your affections are for me.
The short story you have just read was wrote in response to a prompt that said " While at the beach you decide to write a message in a bottle. What would it say? Who would you like to find it?"