Samuel Wharton

Ferocious winds were tearing through rigging and masts in deafening roar.  Seawater and wind became one as tops of crests were torn from the sea.  "The water in the hold flowed into the cockpit notwithstanding the great efforts of the chain pumps," wrote Lieutenant Dale.  "The seas were mountains high," Midshipman Fanning recorded in his journal.   

The Ariel  herself was moaning and groaning with strain of timbers grinding against one another, not able to right herself properly under grave threat of broaching.  The mainmast tore from the seat below deck and became a battering ram until the deck plate gave and both main and mizzen masts were ripped into the sea.  

No less a concern were the perilous Penmarchs, a jagged submerged reef a few miles astern, and notorious graveyard for sailing ships.  Even the saltiest of sailors were afraid, and the travelling landsmen, mostly French soldiers aboard for passage, were utterly terrified and began exchanging farewells.  Men began abandoning posts in abject desperation.

But amid the frantic chaos stood a man whom Samuel Wharton would later describe 
to Benjamin Franklin as one holding "matchless skill, cool, and unshaken intrepidity".  He was at the helm, appointed so by Continental Congress with orders signed by John Hancock on October 10, 1770.  His name: Captain John Paul Jones.

Captain Jones realized that even amidst the utter chaos lay hope for the Ariel and her crew.  For below his ship was rock, so strong and immovable, that even the dreadful gnashing seas were powerless against it.  He gave orders to proceed with lowering the lone anchor, an action which in itself was perilous and took great effort.  But the anchor caught solidly and the connecting rode held together against the violence.  With nothing else in the world to grasp, the Ariel and her men were saved from certain destruction by making fast to the Rock.

Storms will also blow into OUR lives simply because we live in a fallen world.  Yet we do not have to despair because there is a Rock to which we can anchor our lives securely: Jesus Christ, God's Son.  Listen to Him:

"Therefore whoever HEARS these sayings of Mine, and DOES them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock" (Matthew 7:24-25).

When we "anchor" our lives in Christ by hearing and obeying His Word, He has promised to save us.  He will save those who place their faith and trust in Him (Acts 16:30-31), turn from their sins in repentance (Acts 17:30-31), confess Him before men (Romans 10:9-10), and are baptized (immersed) in His name for the forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38).  He has also promised to keep safe those who continue to abide in His Word (John 8:31; 1 John 1:7).

Won't YOU anchor your life to "The Rock" so that you may be saved eternally?

-- Terry Livingston & David A. Sargent