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Themes: Resurrection Marine Lance Cpl. Zachary Mayo wasn't supposed to be alive. His parents had been called and told the bad news that he was lost at sea.
As Zachary Mayo was standing on board the USS America, it was cruising in the Arabian Sea. He had just come out to get some fresh air. Suddenly a door was blown open and threw him into the sea. No one saw or heard him. As the young marine was treading water, the 81,000 ton vessel just sailed away.
Knowing that he might not be found for hours, Mayo thought about the tricks he had been taught in survival school. He took of his trousers, and after tying knots in the ends, made a life preserver by swishing them in the air. He used these to stay afloat.
Back on board the aircraft carrier, Mayo was discovered missing at 7 AM the next morning. Helicopters and planes were sent out to look for him. He was not found.
Later that day a Marine delegation visited Mayo's home in Idaho. They had the sad job of telling his that their son was lost at sea. They told them that they were continuing to look, but that it was very doubtful they would ever find him. Several days later they returned to say that he could not be found and had drowned at sea. He was dead.
Meanwhile, back in the middle of the Arabian Sea, Mayo was treading water and holding on to his float. After about 36 hours, he was picked up by a fishing boat. The men in the boat didn't speak English but that didn't matter. They had found him.
They took him into port where eventually he found someone who spoke English and could get word back to the Marines.
It was 4 AM in the morning when the phone rang at the Mayo home in Idaho. "Hi dad, how are you doing?" said Zachary to his father. "This doesn't happen" said a Marine spokesman. "Usually You're dead". But Zachary Mayo wasn't dead. He was alive.
Our story is even more thrilling because the Lord Jesus was dead. But now He is alive and will never die. Because He died, was buried and has been raised again, we too can have eternal life. He is alive right now. The Bible says that "He was delivered for our transgressions, and raised again for our justification." Romans 4: 25,
God raised His Son from the dead to show to everyone that the work He had come to do was completed. Christ had died for sins and was raised to prove to you that God is satisfied with the work of the cross for you.
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Simon Wallace
