After a shipwreck off the coast of Nigeria, a 29-year-old man survived three days at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean while constantly reciting a psalm his wife mentioned to him during their last conversation. Harrison Okene was a Nigerian cook on the tugboat Jascon 4, which was one of three vessels pulling an oil tanker. It capsized and sank about 32 kilometers off the coast of Nigeria in late May with its 12 crewmembers aboard. Although the shipwreck occurred in May, a video of the dramatic rescue surfaced this week and was published by the Associated Press on YouTube. The video shows Okene being found alive by divers who were inspecting the shipwreck. Okene was in the bathroom when the boat sank 100 feet to the ocean floor. He was trapped in an air pocket, where he remained for three days reciting a passage from Psalm 54: “Oh God, by your name save me...The Lord sustains my life.” The video captures the moment in which a diver saw the cook's hand and thought it belonged to a dead body. When the hand grasped at him, he shouted, “He's alive, he's alive,” to his fellow rescue workers, who were watching on monitors on the surface. Okene said he thought only a miracle would lead to his rescue and during the long wait, he began “reminiscing on the verses I read before I slept. I read the Bible from Psalm 54 to 92. My wife had sent me the verses to read that night when she called me before I went to bed.” In an interview with Nigerian newspaper The Nation, Okene recalled that he began to invoke the name of God and that he was in a daze because the surroundings went completely dark. Wow #jesussaves.
In the quiet, dusty corners of our hearts, we often harbor blueprint drafts of how we think our lives should unfold. We carefully map out our timelines, hoping for a smooth path, and it is only natural to feel a bit lost or weary when a sudden storm alters our course or a door we prayed would open remains closed. Yet, our Lord does not stand at a distance during these moments of uncertainty; He is a tender Shepherd who walks beside us, gently whispering, "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope" ( Jeremiah 29:11). When our own plans crumble, it is not a sign that He has abandoned us, but rather an invitation to fold our hands, release our grip on the pen, and offer our own quiet fiat—letting Him guide us into green pastures we could never have found on our own. Placing our trust in His loving providence allows us to breathe deeply and find rest, even when the road ahead is shrouded in mist. E...