AP

Today seemed a typical day as news of current events flooded in, presumably for our edification. Senator James Paterson reassured us that the Federal Liberal Party had changed under Angus Taylor. But, alas, his articulate and media-savvy deputy, Jane Hume, had voted against a motion to save babies who might be born alive after a ‘botched’ abortion. They would be left for however long it took for them to die. Then Kellie Sloane, leading the NSW Liberals, announced that she was marching in the Gay Mardi Gras.

On the other side of this rather phony divide, the squirming of the Prime Minister seemed rather mild, even amusing. He had described the former Australian of the Year, Grace Tame, as ‘difficult’. One could think of more accurate adjectives, but this was too much for the performing seals, the ladies from the Greens. They set out a view of history that they find convincing, that it is the difficult women who have been responsible for so much of the enlightened progress over the last century. True to form, Mr Albanese went to water, and tried to claim that he was only saying that Ms Tame’s life had been difficult.

Just when I was moaning that we are being ambushed by self-serving delusionists and liars who celebrate all the wrong things, I thought of those lines from William Cowper: ’Sometimes a light surprises’. Admittedly he was referring to believers who were singing. But it led me to think of a most heart-warming account that I had read some weeks back.

On 30 January a thirteen-year-old boy, Austin Applebee, was with his mother (Joanne) and younger brother (Beau) and sister (Grace) in a rented kayak and two inflatable paddle-boards off the coast of Quindalup, in south-western Western Australia. Little did they know that they would be swept out to sea, and have to battle rough seas, and the possibility of shark attack. What was meant to be an hour’s adventure in the sea turned into a ten-hour rescue mission.

As the situation became more perilous, Joanne decided to send Austin back to shore on the kayak. However, it took in water, so he ditched it. Also, his life jacket proved to be a hindrance, so he ditched that too. He took about four hours to swim the four kilometres to shore, using freestyle, breast-stroke, and survival backstroke. These must have been the longest four hours of his life. During the time, he thought of many things, but he also prayed. ‘I don’t think it was actually me, swimming,’ he later remarked. ‘It was God the whole time. I kept on praying. I kept on praying. And I said to God, “I’ll get baptised and all that.”’

When he reached the shore, he collapsed, but could not immediately get help because the tourists on the beach could not speak English. So Austin ran another two kilometres to their accommodation to retrieve his mother’s phone, and call 000. Finally, when all were thinking the worst, the Western Australia Water Police, a rescue helicopter, and a marine rescue boat located Joanne and her shivering children, just in time as Beau had lost feeling in his legs. The four members of the family will have ongoing physical scars to get over, and no doubt memories of what might have been, and then the spiritual battle to maintain one’s equilibrium. But God has smiled on them.

Our very own ABC reported this without mentioning Austin’s prayers and his dependence on God. It is a dark world, but sometimes a light surprises, and God reminds us that He is still present. There is something of John Newton’s experience in what took place in Western Australia. After turning to the Lord during a fierce Atlantic storm in March 1747, Newton remembered this with gratitude: ‘That 10th of March is a day much to be remembered by me; and I have never allowed it to pass unnoticed since the year 1748. For on that day the Lord came from on high and delivered me out of deep waters.’ God bless Austin, and grant us all to learn anew: ‘For though the LORD is high, he regards the lowly, but the haughty he knows from afar.’ (Psalm.138:6)

– Peter Barnes