Two Florida teens were stranded in the middle of the ocean for close to two hours when in desperation one of the frightened high school seniors decided to pray.
Tyler Smith and Heather Brown, who both attend Christ’s Church Academy in Jacksonville, were out for a swim in choppy waters on senior skip day when a strong current pulled them out to sea, reports Action News Jax.
In an interview posted to the school’s Facebook page Smith told the boat’s captain, Eric Wagner, “that no matter what direction they swam, they kept going out.”
CBS 47 Action News Jax here interviewing Tyler Smith and Heather Brown about their dramatic rescue at sea! Eric Wagner…
The teens were exhausted, shivering and pale, “near the end” when Tyler started to pray for God’s help. He told the outlet:
“I cried out, ‘if you really do have a plan for us, like, come on. Just bring something.’”
Captain Wagner was sailing from Delray to New Jersey in 15-20kn wind on April 18, and the seas were rough on the day he decided to take his boat, Amen, out.
Wagner said he could barely hear the kids screaming for help nearly two miles out “over all the wind, waves, and engines.”
Meanwhile, Smith and Brown were struggling to swim towards the boat. Brown said:
“I started swimming towards it. I was like, ‘I’m going to get this boat. Just stay here. I’m going to get this boat. We are going to live.’”
The first words that came out of her mouth were, “‘God is real.’”
Smith told the station:
“There’s no other reason, no other explanation in the world other than God.”
Stranded in the middle of the ocean, two #Florida teens began to pray. A God send, in the form of a boat, the Amen. Their incredible story of survival on @ActionNewsJax tune in at 6:00 pic.twitter.com/RsdS61VMcZ
— Bridgette Matter (@bridgetteANjax) April 30, 2019
After the two teens began to pray, Captain Wagner pushed out to Smith and Brown in the Amen and pulled them aboard then called the coast guard.
They were both weak and barely coherent when Wagner found them. Parents in the community following their story of survival said the scary ordeal should remind moms and dads to pray for their children every morning.
One mom wrote:
We never know what the Lord has in store when we pray over our kids in the morning!!
The young couple thanked God for saving them.