The November Witch

 

"I guess my biggest fear, then and there, was that I didn't want to be out there alone"

Dennis Hale, sole survivor of the wreck of the Daniel J Morrel 

Growing up on the shores of Lake Superior, I came a decent respect for the weather she would often inspire.  In summer, cool breezes would blow in by the lake while a few miles inland would be baking in the summer sun.  Winter was another story altogether.  In winter the big lake would produce snow storms that could bury the city in a foot of snow overnight.  Those who have sailed on the lakes often refer to these storms as "The November witch."  Few who have never experienced the great lakes region in the winter could ever understand this.  Of course, along with the weather would come violent storms out on the lake.  Most people were bitterly reminded of the power of Lake Superior in November of 1975 when the 729 foot ore carrier Edmund Fitzgerald went down with all hands lost.  I recall watching the newscast that night when the news broke that the Fitz had been lost.  The Fitzgerald was just one of the over 6,000 ships that have been lost to storms on the great lakes.  Another vessel that gets a lot of attention is the wreck of the Daniel J Morrel.  Unlike the Fitzgerald, the Morrel produced a single survivor, watchman Dennis Hale.  Hale would survive over 14 hours in the frigid 34 degree waters of Lake Huron before being lifted to safety by the Coast Guard.  For years after his experience, Dennis Hale would experience what he described as survivors guilt because he had survived while his shipmates had not.  Was he wishing that he had perished along with them?  Not at all, I believe that Dennis Hale simply struggled to comprehend why events had occurred as they had that night.  Was he special?  Did God have other plans for him?  Perhaps.  In September of 2015, cancer did to Dennis Hale what the gales of Lake Huron had failed to achieve.  

"All that which the Father is giving to Me shall be arriving to Me, and He who is coming to Me I should under no circumstances be casting out"

John 6: 37, Concordant New Testament

One quote proclaimed by Dennis Hale in one of his subsequent interviews got me thinking.  He said that his biggest fear that night was being out in that storm all alone.  I get it.  Many of us have been in that midnight storm, with the waves of circumstances out of our control smashing against us.  We don't want to go through this alone.  Where do we turn?  The apostle Paul tells us that when everything else fails, that there is One who never will.  Paul tells us that we can do ALL things through Christ Jesus who strengthens us {Philippians 4:13}.  In recent years I have tended to modify this scripture to proclaim simply...Christ IS my strength!  Again, Paul assures us of this fact in Galatians, where he tells of the indwelling Christ in each of us {Galatians 2:20}.  What storm is there which Jesus cannot overcome?  Scripture tells us of how He quieted the storm on the Sea of Galilee as He and his disciples traveled across it {Mark 4:35-41}.  His disciples, in wonderment proclaimed, "Who can this be?"  Who indeed.  I have no doubt in my mind that as Dennis Hale often struggled to come to terms with why only he survived his ordeal, that Christ was working through him into the lives of others.  We may never know just how many people Dennis Hale inspired with his story.  I know another true story, of a Man who survived death on a cross that others would live guilt AND sin free {2 Corinthians 5:21}.  Jesus assures us that when the storm arrives, we are never alone.  

And they were afraid with a great fear, and said to one another, "Who, consequently, is this that even the wind and the seas are obeying Him?" 

Mark 4: 41, Concordant New Testament 

~Scott~