Religion Today: A Wallet in the Sea – A Picture of the Depths of God’s Love
Guest Writer Spotlight: A Wallet in the Sea – A picture of the depths of God’s love – By Richard Lewis
I’m afraid that I am kind of a Titanic devotee and am always interested in stories and trivia about the great ship and the tragic sinking disaster in 1912.
You may recall a scene from some of the older titanic movies where a volunteer slid down the lifeboat ropes to assist the lone crewman in handling a lifeboat filled with women and children. As a point of trivia, this scene was filmed for the James Cameron Titanic film but was one of the parts removed during editing because the film had become too long.
That scene is actually based in fact. It was 53 year old military man and amateur sailor Major Arthur Peuchen of Toronto Canada who slid down the ropes into lifeboat #6 to help handle the lifeboat. As he slid down the ropes his wallet was dislodged from his pocket and fell into the freezing waters.
SEE OTHE RECENT DEVOTIONALS BY RICHARD LEWIS:
Religion Today: What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world
Religion Today: His Outstretched Arms
Religion Today: The Scars on His Hands
Approximately 2 hours and 40 minutes after striking the iceberg, the Titanic broken into pieces and descended to its watery grave at a depth of approximately 12,500 feet. At that depth everything is crushed by the incredible pressure of almost 6000 pounds per square inch.
Peuchen passed away in 1929 – 17 years after the sinking. In 1987 the first of the robotic submarines descended to the ocean floor to recover artifacts. In that first year, one of the more interesting items recovered was a man’s small leather wallet. When the wallet was opened, under carefully controlled conditions so it would not be damaged, it was discovered that this was indeed Peuchen’s wallet that had been lost on that fateful night 75 years earlier. It contained his business card, some streetcar passes, and a traveler’s check.
When I think about that tiny wallet resting on the ocean floor, it reminds me of our sin in relationship to the ocean of God’s love and forgiveness. We can’t minimize sin but we can’t underestimate God’s Love and forgiveness which flows over our sin like a great ocean through our savior Jesus Christ.
Psalm 103:10-12 “He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.“
Micah 7:19 Once again you will have compassion on us. You will trample our sins under your feet and throw them into the depths of the ocean!
God has cast our sin the bottom of the deepest sea and that sin has been crushed by the weight of God’s Love. Now we sometimes try to put on our swim fins and diving mask and try to go retrieve those sins and relive them again or feel guilty for them again but the reality is God has put them there at the bottom of the deepest sea. As Holocaust survivor Corrie ten Boom put it so well – “He has cast our sins to the bottom of the sea and put out a sign NO FISHING ALLOWED”
Oh what a wonderful heavenly father, Oh what a Savior.
Background information: https://toronto.citynews.ca/2008/01/04/toronto-streetcar-tickets-found-in-titanic-wreckage/
Richard Lewis is a graduate of Arizona State University (Advertising) and California Baptist University (Computer Information Systems). Richard and his wife Sue met while they served as staff members at Campus Crusade for Christ for 8 years in the 1970’s. Richard served in the Campus Ministry at University of Texas at El Paso, Louisiana Tech and at the International Headquarters in San Bernardino, California.
Following their ministry in Campus Crusade Richard was the owner and manager of a bicycle shop in Riverside California for 19 years. After retraining in the computer field at California Baptist University, Richard worked as a Information Systems contractor and employee at Boeing for 17 years. Richard has written over 150 published articles in Information Systems and Computing publications including Windows Magazine and Windows Scripting Solutions. Richard has served in a leadership role as a Deacon and Elder in several churches as well as being a meditation presenter and Men’s Ministry coordinator.
Richard has written hundreds of meditations and devotionals that have been used in church and small group meetings. Many of these have been published in The Upper Room and Racers For Christ publications and on their web sites.
In 2021 Richard published a collection of his devotionals. These are available in a Kindle and paperback format on Amazon (ISBN 979-8705738878) “Life Stories to Uplift and Encourage”.
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Trevor Montgomery, 50, moved in 2017 to the Intermountain area of Shasta County from Riverside County and runs Riverside County News Source (RCNS) and Shasta County News Source (SCNS).
Additionally, he writes or has written for several other news organizations; including Riverside County based newspapers Valley News, Valley Chronicle, Anza Valley Outlook, and Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle; the Bonsall/Fallbrook Village News in San Diego County; and Mountain Echo in Shasta County. He is also a regular contributor to Thin Blue Line TV and Law Enforcement News Network and has had his stories featured on news stations throughout the Southern California and North State regions.
Trevor spent 10 years in the U.S. Army as an Orthopedic Specialist before joining the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department in 1998. He was medically retired after losing his leg, breaking his back, and suffering both spinal cord and brain injuries in an off-duty accident. (Click here to see segment of Discovery Channel documentary of Trevor’s accident.)
During his time with the sheriff’s department, Trevor worked at several different stations; including Robert Presley Detention Center, Southwest Station in Temecula, Hemet/Valle Vista Station, Ben Clark Public Safety Training Center, and Lake Elsinore Station; along with other locations.
Trevor’s assignments included Corrections, Patrol, DUI Enforcement, Boat and Personal Water-Craft based Lake Patrol, Off-Road Vehicle Enforcement, Problem Oriented Policing Team, and Personnel/Background Investigations. He finished his career while working as a Sex Crimes and Child Abuse Investigator and was a court-designated expert in child abuse and child sex-related crimes.
Trevor has been married for more than 30 years and was a foster parent to more than 60 children over 13 years. He is now an adoptive parent and his “fluid family” includes 13 children and 18 grandchildren.
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