Two Flordia teens skipped school for the annual beach senior skip day, but their fun day off turned into an incredible nightmare. That was, until Jesus stepped in.
Tyler Smith and Heather Brown, both 17 years old, have been friends since the fourth grade and attend Christ’s Church Academy together. They decided to go swimming in Vilano Beach, but became stranded 2 miles off the coastline for two hours.
The teens started to worry that they were not going to make it. They helped to hold each other up as they struggled to swim.
They didn’t know what else to do, so they prayed.
“I cried out, ‘if you really do have a plan for us, like, come on. Just bring something.’” Smith said.
Suddenly, a boat sailing from South Florida to New Jersey saw the teens in distress.
“I started swimming towards it. I was like, ‘I’m going to get this boat. Just stay here. I’m going to get this boat. We are going to live.’” Brown said.
Not only had God answered their prayers, but did so in an obvious way. The boat that rescued them was named “The Amen”.
“Over all the wind, waves, and engines, we thought we heard a desperate scream,” Captain Eric Wagner told the local station. “Exhausted and near the end, the boy told me he called out for God’s help. Then we showed up.”
Wagner called the Coast Guard and pulled the two kids to safety.
“The first words that came out of my mouth were, ‘God is real.’”
“There’s no other reason, no other explanation in the world other than God,” Smith said.
The two friends, who graduate on May 19, both plan on serving in the military and believe this experience will help them.
Jeanie Collins, director of marketing and development at Christ’s Church Academy, told Fox News the school is grateful they are alive.
“The staff, students and families of Christ’s Church Academy are incredibly grateful for God‘s protection over Heather and Tyler,” Collins said. “Thank you to Mr. Eric Wagner, captain of the ‘Amen’ vessel that rescued our students, for your action and compassion!”