Sharks

The value of this short Christian story: Thou Shall not Kill

Everyone on the fishing trawler knew about the dangers of sharks. When they brought their nets in, they saw the big dangerous beasts in the water feeding off of what got loose form their catch. Oliver’s uncle Nemo often talked to him about the dangers before he agreed to let him work as cabin boy on the ship for a summer. Oliver was the only kid on the boat but the sailors liked him and he learned a lot about fishing from them.

photo credit: maessive

The day the ship sank was like any other day. But everybody heard the explosion in the engine room and what it meant when the boat began to tilt because water was filling it from below. They had done drills on this often. Oliver was put in a small life raft boat first since he was the youngest. He held the rope that tied his raft to the ship hoping that soon his uncle and some of the men would join him. But suddenly there was a jolt as the sinking ship jerked in the water. The rope broke and Oliver’s raft began to drift.

He called out to the ship as the rest of the men got into boats and they were yelling back that they would catch up to him. It looked like everybody got off and would be safe but the waves took him further and further away until Oliver couldn’t see anyone any more. He was alone on the open sea in a tiny life raft.

Oliver knew to conserve his energies and he found the supplies and sun block to keep himself safe and healthy while he waited for rescue. That was when he saw the large fin in the water circling his raft. He knew what it was. The great white shark circled and circled as though thinking about what it was going to do. All of a sudden, there was a pop at the back of the inflatable raft. It had sprung a leak. At first, Oliver thought the shark had rammed him but then he saw the big fish several yards in front of the boat watching him so he knew it wasn’t the shark’s fault.

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