Just 2 weeks before World War II ended, the battle cruiser USS Indianapolis, returning from a
mission of delivering enriched uranium to allied forces in the Pacific, was
struck by a Japanese torpedo. It sank in only 12 minutes. 300 of the 1,200 men
on board died from the blast. However,
900 men went into the water and floated in their life vests enduring 4 days and
5 nights without food, without water, in the scorching sun of the Pacific. Only
316 survived the harrowing experience and lived to tell it. One of those who
survived was the chief medical officer Lewis Haynes, who worked with the men to
survive the ordeal. His most challenging assignment was to keep the men from
drinking the sea water.
By the second day the men could not resist the temptation to drink the
deadly sea water. The boys began to gorge themselves murmuring in pleasure as
they sipped through bleeding lips. Dr. Haynes swam among them punching them in
the face and pleading with them to stop. It was no use because they could
resist no longer, especially the younger ones. Many had hallucinations and mad
fits and fell into comas. The dead or nearly dead floated motionless, while
others clawed the air in thirst or panic. Their throats were too dry to scream.
For most it took no more than two hours for them to die.
Dr. Haynes writes: “At first you get in a situation where you abhor it.
You can’t stand it. It’s terrible. But you can’t get away from it. So you stick
with it. And then you get so that you tolerate it. You tolerate it long enough,
you embrace it. It becomes your way of life.”
What a picture of human thirst. Everywhere we look we see thirsty people.
We are thirsting for something even though we have no idea what. The craze to
buy things is an attempt to quench our thirst, but it doesn’t work. The
incessant pursuit of sex is another futile attempt to slake our thirst, but it
just leaves us emptier. Neither success, fame nor riches will quench our thirst,
but in the end, we discover that we are still thirsty. All these attempts are
like salt water. We think they will satisfy us, but they leave us even
thirstier than we were before, and worst of all the saltwater is killing us.
Jesus knows our thirst. Near the end of his grueling ordeal on the cross,
he yelled out “I am thirsty” (John 19:28). He experienced the gut wrenching
desire for something to satisfy his thirst, and he was referring to more than
his physical thirst. A little later, he spoke again and this time he said, “It
is finished” (John 19:29). Jesus had finished his work of redemption.
Jesus had already invited the thirsty to come to him and drink when he
said, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink” (John 7:37). He
was referring to the life that flows from Jesus to the thirsty when they come.
Four hundred years before, the prophet Zechariah said that on that day—the day
Jesus died a fountain would be opened up—a fountain to cleanse them from sin
and impurity (Zech 13:1). This is the water we long for, and it is the water
that will truly quench our thirsting souls.
When Jesus died on the cross, that fountain began to flow, and people
have been drinking from it ever since. Are you tired of being thirsty? Are you
tired of being disappointed? Are you tired of life? Are you tired of drinking
salt water that only makes you thirstier? Then I invite you today to become a
true follower of Jesus Christ. I’m not talking about joining a church—I’m
talking about giving your heart to Jesus and drinking of the living water that
Jesus offered.
Stanton, Doug (2003-05-01). In Harm's Way: The Sinking of the U.S.S.
Indianapolis and the Extraordinary Story of Its Survivors (Kindle Locations
2081-2102). Henry Holt and Co.. Kindle Edition.
