Chronicles in the Life of Peter Blank, Part 2

Episode 2: Peter Is Washed Away
A family seaside picnic found Peter (7 years) bored without the story books
he normally used for filling his holiday hours. This was a family affair,
which included an assortment of relatives including two maiden aunts. A
neighbour's two daughters (school friends of Peter's siblings) had also
accompanied them to the beach. Swimming, or rather paddling, in the safety
of a large netted shark protection enclosure preceded the luncheon.
While the adults chatted about the way things once were, the teens about the
way things ought to be, and the younger ones about how they couldn't care
either way, Peter, having gained a reputation as a day-dreamer, reclined
upon an inflatable mattress on the beach and closed his eyes.
The hot afternoon sun may have enticed others into the water, but for Peter
it had a different effect. The relaxing comfort of the air-mattress, the
gentle lapping of the water (as the tide came in) and the gentle rocking of
the now-floating mattress lulled Peter into a dreamy sleep. Flotsam & jetsam
may have washed up on the shoreline, but dreaming Peter drifted the other
way.
In fact, he continued to drift, unnoticed until he awoke, startled, as the
gentle waves were replaced by the more turbulent heaving of the ocean. It
was then that he realised both his predicament and the futility of shouting
for assistance as he was by now some considerable distance out to sea. Now
that he had left the protection of the bay, he was rapidly being carried
further by the wind. Although he felt no fear, he felt the anxiety of
helplessness. But God hadn't finished with Peter yet.
After what seemed ages, the bobbing head of a swimmer could be seen in the
water between him and the beach. The elder daughter of the neighbour,
herself only a teenager, had taken it upon herself to attempt a rescue. But
as fast as she drew closer, the wind carried Peter further away, until
finally she gaspingly pleaded for him to lie flat on his stomach and try to
paddle toward her. Fortunately for both of them, he did so, and she rested
on the edge of the mattress before attempting to swim back. Although
exhausted from the swim out to him, she was somehow given additional
strength to swim back to shore (against the tide) with Peter and the
air-mattress in tow.
I hope you can imagine the praise and cheers this young lady received when
they eventually arrived in shallow water again. Peter is unable to relate
that part of the story as he better remembers two other things: his mother's
rebuke for his foolishness and his maiden aunt's proclamation of gratitude
to the God who had cared for him. However, Peter's life lesson is not
finished yet.


-- Lionel Hartley, Not Finished Yet -- Chronicles in the Life of Peter Blank
"This serial saga, although novel, is not a novel. It is merely a series of true-life episodes highlighting the extraordinary working of an extraordinary God in a very ordinary life. Each episode contained a lesson for Peter Blank, a lesson we can all learn, from a lesson-book life that is not finished yet."
As first appeared in FreEzine Magazine July 2000 ff