When my mom was in her late 70s she said to me, “Son, I’m afraid I’m getting Alzheimer’s disease. I keep forgetting where I’ve put my car keys.” I told her, “Mom, you were losing your car keys when I was a kid.” The truth is that no matter how old we are subject to forgetting things now and then.
Yet, there are things we are never to forget. Psalm 103:2 states, “Let all that I am praise the LORD; may I never forget the good things He does for me.” The heart of our praise, thanksgiving and worship is a response to the good things the LORD has done for us.
Every Friday night, until his death in 1973, an old man would walk to a broken pier on the eastern seacoast of Florida. He would walk slowly, and slightly bent, with a bucket of shrimp. Seagulls would flock to him and he would feed them. The man was Captain Eddie Rickenbacker. Many years before, in October 1942, Captain Rickenbacker had ditched his plane at sea.
For nearly a month Captain Eddie and his crew were stranded at sea. Eight days out, their rations were long gone or destroyed by the salt water. It would take a miracle to sustain them. One of the men led devotions and prayed for a miracle. Then they sang a hymn of praise.
Something landed on his head. He knew that it was a sea gull. The gull meant food—if he could catch it. Captain Eddie caught the gull. The men ate it. They used its insides for bait to catch fish. The survivors were sustained and their hopes renewed because a lone sea gull, uncharacteristically hundreds of miles from land, offered itself as a sacrifice.
Captain Eddie made it. And he never forgot. Because every Friday evening, about sunset, on a lonely stretch along the eastern Florida seacoast you could see Captain Eddie carrying a bucket filled with shrimp to feed the gulls.
Never forget to honor Jesus, who sacrificed His very life for all of us. What David said in his psalm is a good reminder for us. “May I not forget.” About 2,000 years ago, Jesus saw humanity as desperate and in danger of perishing. All of us were lost at sea spiritually. He came to us and voluntarily sacrificed His life so we could live. May we not forget!
