The Boy Who Saved Starfish
The Boy who saved Starfish
by Joshua Woodmansee
I remember my mom reading a story to me that really made an impression on me. This is my own retelling of it with a twist.
Once upon a time, there was a boy scurrying along the shore of a beach, picking up starfish that were washed ashore and throwing them back in. A man was walking on the nearby road and saw him picking up starfish. He walked up and said,
“Could I help?”
The boy then said, “Sure, just pick those thousand up and throw them back in the sea.”
Fifteen minutes later, another man was walking on the nearby road and saw the boy and a man picking up starfish. He walked up and said,
“Could I help?”
And the boy said, “Sure, just pick those thousand up and throw them back in the sea.”
This happened ten more times. Now 12 people were picking up starfish. But one man walked on the nearby road and saw the 12 men and the boy picking up starfish and throwing them back in and he walked up and said,
“There’s no point to pick up all these starfish. There’s thousands. Just give up and go do something better.”
The boy grabbed a starfish and showed it to the man, and then threw it in the sea and said,
“I just saved a starfish’s life. Doesn’t that count?”
Meaning
The boy is Jesus. The starfish washed ashore are us, needing to hear God’s Word and needing to be cleansed and forgiven by Jesus. The 12 men that came are Jesus’s disciples to preach about God. They helped save people with Jesus. When the boy said,
“I just saved a starfish’s life. Doesn’t that count?”
He meant, “I just showed a person the way to eternal life.” Doesn’t that count?”
. . .
Lets see, a bible is about $5, so if you even give a $5 donation to UBO, you could show a person the way to eternal life instead of separation from God. WOW! Should we care about a person’s life in downtown Dallas or half way across the world? Yes. We should. God loves everyone equally all around the world, and when a person is given new life, born again, becomes a Christian, the heavens rejoice and sing praises. Imagine the biggest party on earth. Then, times it by a thousand. That’s how big the party in heaven will be when one person becomes a Christian, from one Bible, from your $5.