Participants:
Series Code: TDY
Program Code: TDY190090A
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00:01 I want to spend my life
00:07 Mending broken people 00:12 I want to spend my life 00:19 Removing pain 00:24 Lord, let my words 00:30 Heal a heart that hurts 00:34 I want to spend my life 00:40 Mending broken people 00:46 I want to spend my life 00:51 Mending broken people 01:08 Hello, friends. Welcome to 3ABN Today. 01:11 My name is John Lomacang and you probably know 01:13 who's to my left, my sweetheart. 01:16 Angela Lomacang, 01:17 and we are glad to be together... 01:19 That's right. Doing this interview. 01:21 It's gonna be an exciting program, isn't it? 01:22 Oh, it is. 01:24 As a matter of fact, I want you to just pause 01:26 whatever you're doing right now, sit back, 01:28 you do not want to miss this interview. 01:32 What happens when your day just turns upside down, 01:36 inside out 01:37 and you find yourself hanging on to life, 01:40 literally by a thread. 01:42 I know. 01:43 We're not talking about bad medical report 01:45 or some unusual turn in your health. 01:49 But our guest today is going to talk about this miraculous, 01:53 amazing... 01:55 Totally miraculous. 01:56 Survival and we'll give you more details on the other side. 01:59 I don't want to give you too much of it now. 02:00 That's true, but you don't want to miss this program. 02:02 You do not want to miss this program. 02:04 No. It's encouraging. 02:05 We just heard the story's encouraging to us. 02:07 So encouraging, devastating, and yet encouraging. 02:10 And also talks about God's providence. 02:13 How the enemy is never a step ahead of God. 02:17 But God is always a step ahead of the enemy. 02:20 Many, many steps ahead of the enemy. 02:21 Oh, many. 02:23 And sometimes you do things and you wonder why you do it 02:24 or why you didn't do it. 02:26 This program will give you encouragement 02:28 to know that nothing happens coincidentally, 02:31 and we'll meet our guests in just a moment 02:32 but, Honey, what do we have for music? 02:34 Well, we have a great 02:36 piano player named Kendol Bacchus 02:38 and he's going to share with us 02:41 a selection called "Give Thanks." 06:17 Thank you so much Kendol for that song. 06:19 That's a perfect segue 06:21 to what we're talking about today. 06:22 And at the end of the program, at the end of the program, 06:24 you'll discover that give thanks 06:26 is really why our guest is here today. 06:29 I want to introduce you to Dr. Neil Watts right now. 06:32 Dr. Watts, you're so close. I'll just shake your hand. 06:34 Good to have you here. Good to be here, thank you. 06:35 Not just a doctor but a pastor. 06:37 Yes. And you're from? 06:39 Give us kind of, for those who are watching the program, 06:41 they may say, "Hey, I know him. 06:42 He's a chap from Down Under." 06:44 But for those who may not even know who you are, 06:47 give us an overview of who you are, 06:48 where you're from, and what you do. 06:51 Okay, well, I was born in Western Australia 06:54 in the city of Perth. 06:55 And after my high school years, I worked for a little bit, 06:59 went to Avondale College. 07:00 Wow. And graduated in 1970. 07:04 So I've been in ministry 07:06 48 years or something like that. 07:08 Yes. Wow. 07:09 And started off as a young pastor, 07:11 and after four years I was called to 07:14 what we call a mission field to the South Pacific Islands, 07:17 and I went there to a little town called Kavieng 07:21 in the New Britain New Ireland Mission. 07:24 Know exactly where that is, well not Kavieng, 07:25 but I know where New Britain is, we've been there. 07:27 Well, headquarters were in Rabaul 07:30 where the big volcano... 07:31 Yes. Oh, yes, yes. 07:33 And I stayed there for three years 07:34 and then transferred to Port Moresby 07:38 as evangelist and university chaplain, 07:41 after that to Fulton College in Fiji 07:44 and that's where I was Bible teacher 07:46 and district director and pastor all in one. 07:51 And after that, I went back to Avondale College 07:52 and did some more studies. 07:55 And then from there, 07:56 went back to Western Australia to work. 07:58 Okay. 07:59 And worked there for a couple of years 08:01 then I was called to the union, 08:03 which was started union in Melbourne, 08:08 and from there South Australia, I was president for four years. 08:12 And then from there I was sent out to 08:16 Papua New Guinea again, 08:18 no, sorry Solomon Islands, no, Papua New Guinea. 08:22 I just started a new college, which is now Adventist, 08:26 Pacific Adventist University, 08:28 and I was there as one of the theology lecturers 08:32 for a couple of years and then back to Australia 08:36 and then pastored for several years 08:39 and then became president in South Queensland, 08:42 and you know I'm semi-retired, 08:45 but in between those last two jobs, 08:48 I was asked to go to the Western Pacific, 08:52 where I was union president for three years 08:54 in the Western Pacific Union Mission. 08:57 And that's the period where my story happens. 09:01 Now do you have a family? 09:03 I have a wife, yes and two grown up children, 09:06 three grandchildren. 09:08 Very good. 09:09 And yeah, so that's kind of my brief story. 09:13 I like that. 09:14 I'm walking with you as I'm listening 09:16 to the places you've been. 09:17 And we're talking about today, 09:19 actually the background was really good 09:21 to give us an idea 09:23 of how the Lord has been leading you in missions, 09:25 as well as ministry 09:26 and from the teacher's perspective 09:28 to pastor's perspective, the president's perspective, 09:31 well very well rounded. 09:34 The Lord has been putting you together as a tapestry, 09:37 but now let's zero in on Vanuatu. 09:41 Now talk about Vanuatu for little bit 09:43 because maybe some of our guests 09:45 may not have heard about it. 09:46 It's a beautiful place. 09:48 We had a chance to go to, at least we did. 09:49 You've been there physically. 09:51 Tell us about Vanuatu 09:52 and what was happening in Vanuatu. 09:55 Well, I visited Vanuatu because as I was saying, 09:59 I was president of this union 10:01 and Vanuatu is part of the union 10:04 and lived in Honiara, 10:05 which is in the Solomon Islands, 10:07 and used to come down to Vanuatu 10:11 fairly frequently to conduct meetings 10:12 and district meetings and that sort of thing. 10:15 Vanuatu is a small nation, island nation, 10:18 scattered islands, very volcanic area. 10:23 It's called the Happy Isles. 10:24 The people are basically peaceful people 10:28 although there's been some, yeah, 10:31 less peaceful times in the past. 10:34 It was originally in the last hundred or so years, 10:38 governed by two powers France and Britain. 10:41 And then some years ago, it became independent. 10:44 So it's scattered others over many islands 10:49 and different kinds of people. 10:51 Some were fairly primitive. 10:53 Some are more educated and sophisticated, 10:56 shall we say. 10:58 But I used to like going there, it was a nice place to go to. 11:01 How's the church, the Adventist Church? 11:03 The church is quite strong and it's growing rapidly. 11:08 The last several years it's been growing very rapidly. 11:12 Few years ago, they had a big cyclone 11:14 and while the place was devastated, 11:17 well, the rebuilding churches destroyed 11:19 and houses and villages, 11:22 but at the moment it's going well, 11:24 I'll say just a few months ago. 11:25 Wow. 11:26 And therefore because it's in the South Pacific, 11:29 beautiful beaches, beautiful clear water, 11:32 warm weather. 11:33 Yeah. Now that's true. 11:37 Port Vila itself, 11:38 which is a capital is quite a nice, 11:40 here it's got a beautiful bay and resorts 11:43 where tourists go to 11:44 and big ships come in there with tourists. 11:46 So it's a beautiful place to just stand there 11:50 on the foreshore and look out at these different islands 11:51 and resorts just nearby. 11:54 Oh, Honey, we have never been there. 11:56 Maybe that'll be on our next itinerary. 11:59 But now take us to that fateful day 12:02 that we talked about 12:04 and as we talked about this to our viewers and listeners, 12:07 'cause we have viewers and listeners, 12:09 you're going to not only hear 12:11 how God sustained and protected Pastor Watts, 12:17 but this is one of those, 12:19 I am amazed that we're talking to him 12:20 because this is one of those stories 12:22 where you kind of, you watch a movie. 12:23 It's like a cliffhanger, isn't it? 12:25 Yeah, well, you see this documentary and you think, 12:27 could that actually have happened? 12:29 Exactly. 12:30 And then you think of where it happened 12:31 and the conditions under which and how 12:34 sometimes peace can be interrupted immediately 12:37 by the storms of life. 12:38 Take us to the reason why you were in Vanuatu 12:42 and I think it was, it is Longerville I might say? 12:46 Luganville. Luganville, okay. 12:49 Luganville was on the island of Santo or Santo Espiritu, 12:53 which is basically Holy Spirit, 12:57 that's the name of the island. 12:58 It's a place where there was a lot of fighting 13:02 during Second World War. 13:04 There are shipwrecks, American ships 13:06 and others around about the harbors out there. 13:09 But my wife and I had flown down 13:11 from Solomon Islands to go there 13:14 for district meetings. 13:16 So we flew into Port Vila, the capital, 13:18 and flew up to Santo 13:20 and to Luganville which is kind of a headquarters 13:23 in that area. 13:25 And we were conducting a week of meetings. 13:29 My wife was having some for the women. 13:31 She was church women's ministries director 13:34 and prayer coordinator for the union at the time. 13:38 And, yeah, so we had meetings there 13:41 and I had to leave on the Saturday evening 13:43 to come back to Port Vila, 13:45 to go to Sydney for division meetings. 13:50 So I left for the airport 13:51 and got there just after sunset and... 13:57 Do you want me to go for the story here 13:58 or need a break? 13:59 Yeah, well let's look at the plane that you got on, 14:01 I want to start with just kind of feature this airplane. 14:03 It was a... That's a Twin Otter. 14:06 It's a fairly common plane for the islands, you know, 14:08 short hops between islands. 14:11 Yeah, the Twin Otter, 14:13 that by the way is the original plane. 14:15 Even though it came from Scotland 14:17 and had come to Vanuatu and they put different... 14:20 Decals on it. 14:21 Decals on it, yes, 14:23 but that plane holds about 19 people, 14:26 including the pilot. 14:28 And on the flight 14:29 that I got onto there were just 12 people, 14:31 including the pilot, and an engineer from Vanier, 14:36 who was just coming home from leave. 14:39 So he was just accompanying the pilot. 14:41 All right. 14:43 When we got on the plane, it was just after sunset, 14:49 the weather was still fine. 14:51 And we took off 14:53 and thought everything was going to be okay. 14:55 So the weather was good? 14:57 Yeah. So at that time. 15:00 After about 30 minutes, 15:02 I guess about halfway through the journey, 15:06 we ran into a storm and there was lightning, 15:10 and thunder, and heavy rain 15:13 and began to get turbulent. 15:15 And I don't like too, 15:17 but my guess no person does 15:20 but I remember tightening my seatbelt. 15:22 And just beginning to wonder, 15:25 am I going to be able to handle this 15:27 without being sick or getting to, 15:30 you know, too stressed out. 15:32 I began to just pray and say, Lord, this, 15:36 if you want us to get through this, 15:37 please help us to get to the airport safely. 15:41 This went on for some time 15:43 and the plane was jumping around 15:44 and I was getting a little bit concerned, 15:47 especially as I looked at the clock or the watch, 15:50 and we were due to land, 15:52 we should have been landing 15:54 and there was no indication 15:56 that we were starting to descend. 16:00 So, after a while... What was the pilot saying? 16:03 That's what I was just thinking. 16:04 Well, this is a strange thing. 16:06 What happened was, 16:07 the pilot when he got into the plane. 16:10 He was a little bit late 16:11 which was apparently unusual for him. 16:14 And he got straight into the plane, 16:15 shut the door behind him, 16:17 which was at the back of the Twin Otter, 16:19 walked straight down the aisle, shut the door behind him, 16:22 started the engines and took off. 16:25 There was no welcome aboard, 16:27 no messages about putting your life seatbelt on 16:31 or the time that's going to take for the flight 16:35 or anything, nothing. 16:36 He didn't say anything at all during the flight 16:40 and didn't say a word even when it got turbulent, 16:43 he didn't say anything. 16:45 And then about 10 minutes after we should have landed, 16:50 we're getting quite concerned 16:52 and the couple in front of me, 16:54 it was a man who was an Australian, 16:57 air force man and his wife Dr. Leeks who is a doctor, 17:02 a young couple were out there on their second honeymoon 17:04 apparently, 17:05 and they were looking at their watches too 17:07 and looking around 17:08 and trying to see outside the window 17:10 to see if there any lights, 17:12 but we couldn't see anything. 17:14 And then suddenly the pilot 17:17 put full power onto the engines, 17:19 really loud noise and revving, 17:22 and I thought, oh, what's happening here? 17:25 As he seen a mountain in front of him 17:27 and he's trying to get out of the way 17:29 or perhaps he's just about to land 17:31 and too low and he needs a bit more power. 17:34 I didn't know what it was. 17:37 Well, that's lasted for about five seconds, 17:40 just pretty short 17:41 and then suddenly the engines cut, 17:44 it was dead silence 17:46 and then couple of seconds later, crash. 17:50 A big bang and I was thrown forward 17:53 and my laptop and everything just flew on the floor 17:56 and in this split second, 17:59 I kind of worked out, where we on land or water, 18:02 I didn't know. 18:03 And immediately the door 18:06 between the cockpit and the passengers burst open 18:09 and water flowed up the aisle 18:11 and was up to my knees in seconds. 18:13 Wow. 18:14 And that was, you know, like a nightmare, 18:16 I just couldn't believe what was happening and. 18:20 You were having no idea 18:21 how far you from land or nothing. 18:22 And it's dark. And it's a storm. 18:25 Yeah. Storm. 18:26 You found out later, was a typhoon or monsoon? 18:28 Yeah monsoon they call it, a cyclone, 18:30 whatever similar thing out there. 18:33 So that's when the panic began 18:35 and the water filling up the plane quickly 18:38 with the plane was sort of on an angle obviously. 18:42 And I'm very fortunate that it didn't tip over 18:44 because with the fixed wings on a Twin Otter, 18:48 if it had hit the wheels first, it could have flipped. 18:52 But it was up the right way, 18:53 about just sinking into the water. 18:56 So the couple in front of me 18:58 were the first to be able to open their seatbelts 19:00 and go to the door. 19:02 Another man, a local man, Wesley Ross, 19:04 who was sitting right next to the door, 19:06 he was able to open it. 19:08 And he jumped out. 19:09 The other two in front of me jumped out. 19:11 No life jackets? 19:13 Not then, no, we got too late, two people got them later. 19:17 But I was struggling with my seatbelt 19:21 'cause I did it so tightly. 19:24 And eventually I was the number fourth one out 19:26 I think, number four. 19:27 Were the lights in the plane on or just? 19:29 The lights were still on in the plane fortunately. 19:32 But I jumped out and outside it was stormy and the rain 19:37 and waves were hitting the plane 19:39 and hitting us in the face. 19:41 Oh. 19:42 And I could see the wing, by this time the wing 19:44 which is on top of the plane 19:46 was basically almost at sea level. 19:48 So I swam across to the wing 19:50 and sat up on it 19:52 and tried to get out of the confusion 19:55 of other people coming out of the plane. 19:58 And I remember thinking then, 19:59 wow, I don't have a seatbelt. 20:01 I mean a life jacket, sorry. 20:04 And so I called out 20:06 in the noise of the wind and storm, 20:08 I said, "Please, someone try and get some life jackets." 20:11 So I think Wesley Ross 20:13 who was able to put his hand in, 20:14 just inside the door where he was sitting 20:16 and he got one, 20:18 another one floated out 20:20 and another man got that. 20:22 And that was that was all. 20:25 Where was the pilot? 20:26 The pilot didn't get out. 20:28 There were four people left in the plane 20:30 who unfortunately didn't make it 20:34 and I'll tell you why. 20:36 I'm very privileged that I wasn't sitting there 20:38 'cause I usually did. 20:39 I'll tell you that later 20:41 but, yeah, so in this storm and confusion, 20:45 I took off my shoes and anything else 20:48 that I thought might hinder me if I had to swim. 20:50 Oh, yeah. 20:51 Now the one blessing 20:53 we had was we could see way off in the distance. 20:57 We were told about six miles away 20:59 were these lights of Port Vila. 21:02 But other than that, there was no moon, 21:04 no stars, just rain, wind, and waves. 21:08 So it was a very traumatic experience, 21:12 I can live it as though it was yesterday. 21:16 And in that confusion with people screaming, 21:19 several could climbing out of the plane. 21:23 I remember God put on my heart to... 21:26 I saw these people, 21:28 I thought we must pray for them, I must pray. 21:30 I didn't know any of them 21:32 and I called out with my head 21:34 above the wave as loud as I could, 21:36 and I cried out something like, 21:39 you know, we're in trouble here, folks. 21:41 I'm a pastor, I'd like to pray for you. 21:42 Yes. 21:44 And a couple of voices in the dark called out, 21:46 "Yes, please." 21:47 So I lifted my voice up as high as I could 21:51 try not to get too much salt water in my face 21:53 and just cried out a short prayer to God 21:57 that if it was His will 21:59 we could somehow get to shore safely. 22:02 And with that, the plane began to sink. 22:07 And so I jumped off the wing of the plane 22:09 and we swam a little bit away 22:11 and realized that not everyone was out 22:14 and the pilot was there, there was no steward 22:17 or flight attendant to tell us what to do. 22:19 We're just on our own. 22:21 Really so there was not a flight attendant saying, 22:23 "Welcome aboard." 22:24 Nothing. Flight number. 22:26 Not in a small flight like that. 22:27 I doubt, yeah. Yeah. 22:28 So that hit me, I said to myself, 22:31 well, we're on our own here, no one to tell us what to do. 22:34 But I jumped away from the plane, 22:37 we saw it go down with a little light 22:39 at the back just spinning and into the darkness 22:42 and then we're in complete darkness. 22:45 What about the couple, the husband and wife couple? 22:48 They got out with us. 22:49 Okay, so they were one of the... 22:51 How many of you were outside the plane? 22:52 There were six of us outside of the plane. 22:54 And the couple was included? 22:55 That couple and Wesley Ross, 22:57 the local man who happened to be a lay pastor 23:01 for another church or lay preacher. 23:04 And he was head of the postal service 23:06 in that country. 23:08 And the other two men were working 23:11 for some humanitarian agency. 23:13 One was a British anthropologist. 23:16 Another man was from, 23:17 I think it was Denmark or Norway, 23:19 I found out later. 23:21 I couldn't see them at the time 23:22 and I didn't know who they were. 23:25 And as the plane sank, and we got into the darkness, 23:28 Wesley Ross who was trying to put on his life jacket 23:33 and it was not working properly. 23:36 We tried the whistle, that didn't work. 23:38 The straps didn't work. 23:39 And it didn't inflate. 23:41 Excuse me. 23:43 And so he was trying to get on and I was next to him 23:46 and I had to actually blow up his life jacket. 23:51 And fortunately, the little light shown, 23:55 the other man from Denmark, he had a life jacket 23:58 but the light didn't work. 24:00 We found out later the whistle did but not the light, 24:04 so as we had this little glow 24:06 from this one little light on the life jacket, 24:09 I remember calling out, let's stay together, 24:11 try and keep within the light. 24:13 And let's head off toward the lights of Port Vila, 24:16 so at least we knew the direction to head for. 24:19 Right. You have a map of it? 24:21 Wow, now let's show a picture of the map here of Port Vila 24:24 where actually you were somewhere five miles from shore 24:29 and that's the inside which would you say the port? 24:33 Yeah, that's a good way of saying it. 24:35 That's where you were supposed to be, 24:36 that's where the plane was supposed to land 24:38 and but it just was not what was going to happen 24:41 and here you are out there somewhere. 24:45 All you know as you have a little light on your shoulder 24:48 and there's some lights in the distance 24:50 and estimating five to six miles away. 24:54 Now, I know you talked about, 24:57 you prayed and you ask the Lord to intervene, 25:01 Father, but then your wife wasn't with you. 25:06 I want to just talk about the providence here, 25:08 because where was your wife at this time 25:10 because you both were in Vanuatu, 25:13 where you, where the plane took off from, 25:16 but why wasn't she with you? 25:18 Well, strangely, 25:20 they had asked her to stay back. 25:22 It was Mother's Day, you know, 25:24 the next day, May 9, 25:26 and she was asked to stay back, 25:28 could you take a meeting for the women the next day. 25:32 And it wasn't planned that way but she decided to stay back. 25:36 And so, she wasn't with me and I praise God that, 25:40 that was what happened. 25:42 I'll talk later on about, you know, 25:44 the providence of God of how He could see things in advance 25:47 and how He planned things in advance 25:50 that I couldn't have planned myself, 25:53 but it worked out for the best. 25:54 Yes I thank God for that. 25:56 So let me... Go ahead. 25:58 No, I'm just saying what happened next, 25:59 you're out there in the water, I don't know, 26:02 I can't swim so I'd be, "Give me the life jacket." 26:05 Did you have a life jacket? 26:07 I didn't have a life jacket, no. 26:08 Wow. 26:09 And so I, I kind of realized 26:12 that it was possibly going to be very miraculous 26:16 if I did make it. 26:19 And I knew that God doesn't always save people. 26:23 You know, I knew that, 26:26 whether you're good or bad, people die. 26:29 And so I'm often a little bit, not embarrassed but I think, 26:33 well, why me Lord, you know, 26:35 but I have a reason I think 26:36 why God saved me and I'll mention that later. 26:39 Did your life flash in front of you? 26:41 People do always say that. 26:42 Yeah, it did and it was just such a traumatic thing. 26:49 I just couldn't believe it was happening. 26:51 By the way, once I started swimming, I had to, 26:54 I'd never swam more than 100 meters in my life 26:57 before without stopping, you know 26:59 and so I couldn't have done it on my own, 27:02 but I kept going. 27:04 We didn't swim fast. 27:05 Of course, we tried to keep it steady. 27:07 We thought at the first that 27:08 someone would come and look for us. 27:10 And we saw these lights in Port Vila. 27:12 And we, we knew that the mission 27:15 general secretary would be at the airport waiting for me. 27:17 And so I thought 27:19 or someone's got to know that the plane's crashed 27:22 and they'll come looking for us. 27:23 But it's in the midst of the storm 27:24 also at the same time. 27:26 Yeah, yeah. 27:27 So we kept swimming thinking 27:29 that eventually someone would come. 27:32 And, you know, after a couple of hours, 27:36 I swallowed a lot of salt water. 27:39 My tongue was swollen. 27:40 I was cramping, 27:42 things were stinging us on our legs. 27:45 And I remember after a couple of hours 27:50 calling out to the other saying, 27:52 'cause God put on my heart 27:54 that His people might die tonight. 27:57 We all might die tonight 27:59 and till I know the savior, 28:01 and God put on my heart to just call out to them 28:04 in the darkness and say, "Look, 28:07 if something should happen to us tonight, 28:09 we don't have to be afraid if we know Jesus." 28:13 And I quoted a couple of texts 28:14 that I had preached on that day from the Gospel of John, 28:17 I know that if we die, 28:19 we can still have everlasting life, 28:20 basically. 28:22 And I just said that no one said anything. 28:24 I think they were so tired, 28:26 but I felt that I needed to do that. 28:29 And I'm glad I did. 28:30 Some of them mentioned it later on in the next day. 28:34 But after a couple of more hours, 28:37 I think we've been swimming for four and a half hours, 28:39 no, no boat had come, no rescue. 28:42 We found out later what had happened. 28:45 We found out the next day that about three hours 28:48 after the plane crash, 28:50 the High Commissioner of Australia 28:51 and the Police Commissioner for Vanuatu 28:54 had come to our mission office 28:56 and said look sorry, we have bad news. 28:59 The mission plane has crashed, not a mission plane 29:02 but a plane has crashed in the mountains 29:05 and they were no survivors. 29:07 So they were not even expecting anyone to even show up. 29:10 Not in the water, no. 29:11 Did they tell your wife? 29:13 Well, this is the interesting part. 29:16 My wife was told by telephone 29:18 at the time when the plane was missing. 29:20 And I told her that the plane is missing 29:23 and she tried to be positive and said, oh, well, 29:25 perhaps my husband's swimming in the ocean 29:27 or something 29:29 and she didn't know anything, but that's what she said. 29:32 She contacted our children in Australia. 29:34 And she was praying 29:36 and thinking what it might be like to be a widow. 29:41 And eventually she actually went to sleep, 29:42 she has a bad back 29:44 and she had taken a tablet to try and help her 29:47 get through the pain in the night 29:49 and she eventually drifted off to sleep. 29:52 When this news came to the mission office, 29:55 I decided not to ring her up again unto her. 29:58 I decided to wait and I'm so glad I did. 30:01 Because she didn't have to go through hours of thinking 30:04 that I had died. 30:06 So we can only imagine what happened 30:09 that someone had heard some explosion 30:11 or noise in the mountains and the message got 30:14 through to the authorities 30:17 and they sent out ambulances 30:18 and search parties and all the rest up 30:20 into the mountains. 30:21 And how, how it got to the place 30:25 where they said they found it and no survivors, 30:28 I still do not know. 30:29 Well, that's what happened. 30:31 So anyway, four and a half hours 30:35 after we left the plane, 30:38 I was thinking that I couldn't make it any further. 30:42 We were swimming against the current. 30:44 The lights never seem to get any closer. 30:46 It obviously was a little bit of progress, 30:48 but not very much. 30:50 And I just was cramping, I was just so tired. 30:54 I thought I'm never going to make that long distance. 30:57 Should I give up now 30:58 rather than go to the last splatter of breath. 31:02 So I lay on my back for a little bit 31:03 to just give my arms a rest from swimming 31:07 and I just was thinking 31:08 what it's going to be like to die. 31:10 Should I just dive down 31:11 and open my mouth and drown? 31:14 And I began to think, what would that be like, 31:16 you know, I'd heard of stories of perhaps people 31:19 hearing bells ringing or whatever. 31:21 I was just thinking that. Wow. 31:23 And just committing my life to the Lord. 31:27 And just as I was about to do that, 31:30 right above me as I was lying on my back, 31:32 the clouds parted. 31:34 And a bright star shone straight above me... 31:37 For about 10 seconds and then closed over again. 31:40 The only light we've seen in the sky all night. 31:44 And at that stage, I took it as a sign from God. 31:47 I said yes, Lord, you can, I know you can see me. 31:52 I'm not hidden from you. 31:53 If you've got a work for me to do, please, 31:55 please give me strength to keep going. 31:58 And I said, "Also, 32:01 if Your name can be glorified out of this somehow, 32:04 please do it. 32:05 Let your people be given something to rejoice over 32:08 not to be discouraged and sad about." 32:10 Wow. 32:12 I also said, "Lord, if You save me tonight," 32:15 excuse me, 32:18 "Please open my lips and I might praise you more." 32:22 So I then got on my front again began swimming, 32:26 caught up with the others and kept swimming. 32:31 I'll share some of the things that happened in a minute, 32:34 but let me just say that eventually we got to a place 32:36 where we must have come inside a big bay 32:40 and we can see a little light on the left, 32:42 one on the right. 32:44 And I remember thinking that which way should we go? 32:47 Let's try and get out of this current. 32:50 And I felt impressed to go to the one on the right. 32:53 I called out to the others to see what they felt. 32:55 I said, "Which way do you feel we should go?" 32:58 And they all agreed, let's go to the right. 33:01 I don't think I knew why but 33:03 because in the darkness at sea level, 33:05 you can't really tell distance, hard to tell. 33:07 That's true. 33:09 And so we went to the right, 33:12 and began to swim and get out of the current. 33:15 We found out later that if we'd gone to the other one, 33:20 we will come to a place called Devil's Point. 33:23 Very rightly named and rough seas, sharks, 33:27 they have rough coral and so forth. 33:30 Whereas we began to swim this way 33:31 and we got into calmer water 33:33 and probably an hour and a half later, 33:37 we got close to the place 33:38 where we could just see a little gray strip 33:41 and we thought that must be a beach 33:44 and we kept swimming toward it. 33:46 Eventually, I sat on the side of a reef 33:50 when I was close to shore and at that stage, 33:54 my legs cramped up and I was in tears with the pain, 33:56 it just went so bad. 33:58 I thought to myself, 34:00 if that had happened five minutes before, 34:01 I never would have made it. 34:03 So from there we're able to make it to shore. 34:06 So you were able to sit on a reef. 34:07 Just about probably 100 meters from shore. 34:10 Right. 34:11 This was by that time 34:13 we'd been swimming over six hours, 34:15 we got to shore eventually and just collapsed on the beach 34:20 and went to try and get up we couldn't, 34:23 we're just exhausted so eventually 34:24 we got up after a few minutes called each other together 34:27 and put arms around each other on the beach 34:29 and thanked God for what had happened. 34:33 I forgot to tell you that one man had, 34:36 who started with us 34:37 had drifted off in other darkness 34:39 and unfortunately, he never made it. 34:42 Was that the anthropologist? 34:43 Yes and he had called out to me, 34:46 I was at the back of the pack as it were 34:48 and he was back further. 34:50 And I couldn't see him, 34:52 but just asked him to try and keep afloat. 34:54 Someone will come and find us. 34:56 But they never did. 34:57 Oh, no. So that was sad. 34:59 Yeah, that article, 35:01 I want to show the next picture 35:02 because that really got a lot of visibility 35:05 and a lot of publicity on what took place there. 35:07 Let's bring up the next picture 35:09 and describe what we're seeing here. 35:11 This is just a series of articles 35:14 I'm looking at Never Say Die, 35:16 Pray and swim for your life, 35:18 Swim and a prayer, 35:20 Saved from the ocean by courage and power of faith. 35:24 Then they have a picture of sharks. 35:26 This is just, here you are, 35:29 never thinking that you would even 35:33 first of all be in a situation such as this one. 35:37 And then all of a sudden, 35:39 I know there probably is lot of answers 35:40 that you never really got, like, how do they think 35:42 that the plane crashed in the mountains 35:44 as you said, you never got that. 35:45 But then when did your wife know 35:48 that you had survived? 35:50 Well, eventually when we got to shore, 35:52 we went to this light. 35:53 There was a man living in a sea container. 35:56 And we knocked on his door about quarter to two 35:58 in the morning. 36:00 He came out and we must have looked like be shriveled, 36:03 you know, survivors is shivering. 36:06 Even in, in warm water, 36:08 you can shiver after many hours of being exposed. 36:11 So he took us in, he had a telephone, 36:13 he gave us some hot drink, 36:14 some blankets to wrap around us and so on. 36:16 So he's very kind. 36:18 And he rang up the ambulance and police 36:20 and they came and then took us into hospital. 36:23 We spent the rest of the night there. 36:25 Oh, good. So. 36:27 Out of all the people that were, 36:28 it's about 19 of you total. 36:30 How many made it to shore? Five. 36:33 Well, it was only 12 on the plane, 36:35 it held 19 but there were only 12. 36:37 So seven people perished unfortunately. 36:39 What about the couple? 36:40 Yeah, they were part of it, yeah. 36:42 They made it? They made it, yeah. 36:44 And the Vanuatu man made it, and myself, 36:49 and the man from Denmark. 36:51 So the other itinerant pastor 36:54 who was also dealing with the Postal Service, 36:56 did he make it? 36:57 Yeah, he was the Vanuatu man that was sitting near the door, 36:59 he was the lay preacher there, yeah. 37:01 You know, what do you say, 37:02 I want to just before we go to the authorities, you know, 37:06 what do you say when you, when you're swimming, 37:09 when your feet begin to remember that you... 37:13 When your feet begin to experience 37:14 this dry land under us. 37:16 What is that like? 37:18 I don't ever want to be in a situation like that 37:20 because it's almost like you can exhale, 37:23 you could literally tell your body 37:25 just fall down to the ground. 37:26 Just relax. We made it. 37:28 What is that like? 37:31 Hard to explain. It's just amazing. 37:33 Just so glad that you've made it ashore, 37:35 you know, and so grateful to God. 37:38 I never thought I'd make it. 37:40 And as I said, 37:42 there's no guarantee that no matter who you are, 37:44 you'll be saved. 37:46 I believe God has a plan for all things and I don't, 37:50 I wouldn't blame Him if I died, you know, 37:53 but I believe He had a purpose for me for my living 37:56 and I appreciate that, 37:58 and that I was able to pray for 37:59 and maybe some blessing to others at the time. 38:02 One of the guy that you talked about two lights 38:06 and I want to go back to that 38:07 because you had a little light on there on the life vest, 38:11 one life vest the whistle didn't work, 38:12 the other one the light didn't work. 38:13 But did the person with a life vest 38:15 and the light make it all the way in. 38:18 Yes, they both made it in. Praise the Lord. 38:20 Both those with life jackets made it. 38:22 But then you saw another little light. 38:24 How significant it is 38:25 that the Lord had a man at that time right on the shore 38:30 working on his... 38:32 Oh, yeah. Yeah. 38:33 Building up his home or whatever the case may be 38:34 and he had a light on shore 38:36 and that was this little light of mine. 38:38 Just getting back to a question before about my wife. 38:41 She was told after we went shore, 38:43 after they heard that we're alive. 38:46 And what happened that she was asleep at the time 38:48 she dozed off and an earthquake woke her up 38:52 and the place was moving around 38:54 and she thought oh no, my husband's dead now, 38:56 I'm going to die. 38:58 But she didn't and she was obviously very grateful, 39:02 we had a praise meeting that morning 39:04 with the women who came. 39:06 So that was good. 39:07 We also after going into hospital 39:09 for the rest of the night and so forth, 39:11 I remember talking to the Air Force man 39:14 and he said to me, 39:17 "I'm so glad you are with us and that you're, 39:19 the man upstairs he called him heard your prayers." 39:22 And his wife wrote in a magazine 39:24 later on that she felt that my faith 39:26 and prayer had been a blessing to them 39:29 and help us get to shore. 39:30 So I was grateful for that. 39:33 When it came to the interviews, as you saw, 39:36 you know, those newspaper articles, 39:38 I'd prayed as I said 39:40 that God would somehow be glorified out of this. 39:42 And I was so amazed 39:43 the next day I had phone calls from Australia, and Europe, 39:46 and Canada and so forth. 39:47 And then these people asking me for radio and interviews, 39:52 and each one of them 39:55 allowed me to talk about my faith. 39:56 Even a special man from Australia 40:00 who was known as an atheist. 40:02 He let me talk about prayer and faith and my experience 40:05 with the Lord in that. 40:07 And then when I got back to Australia later on, 40:09 I was interviewed on national television 40:11 on a current affair program. 40:14 And there again, 40:15 the interviewer himself said to me, 40:18 "What about prayer? 40:20 How did that come into your story." 40:21 And I was able to again share on television. 40:24 That prayer had been a great part 40:26 in my being alive today. 40:30 So I really feel God blessed 40:32 and I've had opportunity at universities in America 40:35 where I was studying and so forth 40:36 with other non-Adventist pastors to share that story 40:39 and they're amazed 40:42 at how Adventist could have security, salvation. 40:48 You know, experience of salvation. 40:50 It's almost like a Jonah. Oh, yeah. 40:53 In fact, you mentioned Jonah. 40:54 While I was swimming, after the time, 40:56 I'd seen the star, I remember praying in my mind 40:58 and remembering Jonah, 41:00 and that prayer that he cried out to God 41:02 when he was in the belly of the whale. 41:03 Yes. So I remember doing that. 41:06 But there are some lessons 41:08 that I've learned out of this story 41:10 and one, of course, is the power of prayer. 41:13 Amen. 41:15 I could sense that people were praying for me. 41:18 I don't know how to explain it. 41:20 But I knew people would be praying. 41:21 And they were in Australia. 41:22 I heard they're praying, 41:24 they were praying in the Solomon's. 41:25 They had a prayer meeting in Port Vila itself. 41:29 There, yeah, other people were praying, 41:30 and I could sense that 41:32 and it gave me courage to keep going. 41:33 Wow. And keep moving on. 41:35 So there's certainly power in prayer. 41:38 Another lesson I learned is that, 41:41 and I've have hinted to that, 41:42 they said, "God can see in advance 41:45 of what's happening." 41:46 In fact that my wife did not come with me. 41:49 The fact that I was sitting in the backseat of a plane 41:52 instead of the front. 41:54 Where you normally would sit. Normally sat. 41:55 And the only reason I sat in the back was 41:57 because I'd hurt my back 41:59 and I lifted a heavy case early in the morning 42:02 and I'd put my back out and all week 42:04 while I was taking the meetings I was bending over in agony 42:08 and I was thinking myself why Lord, 42:10 I'm here taking these meetings, please help me through this. 42:14 When I got on the plane instead of going down 42:16 the front in the Twin Otter which is fairly low 42:18 and you got to bend over, well, 42:19 I just sat in the first seat across from the door. 42:22 Wow. 42:23 Otherwise I wouldn't have been here. 42:25 That's right because those in the front of the plane 42:28 submerged in the water. 42:30 Did you see any sharks at all while you were swimming? 42:32 Well, I couldn't see anything, it was just dark. 42:34 Nothing bumped into you? 42:35 Well, there were little things probably just stingers 42:37 or some jellyfish or something. 42:39 I don't know but no shark. 42:41 I'd actually was going to say at one stage. 42:44 I hope there's no sharks here, 42:46 and I think the Lord told me to keep quiet. 42:49 I know that thought in your mind 42:50 will just start to wreak havoc. 42:52 And the miraculous thing is 42:53 I never even thought of them after that. 42:55 Really? 42:56 Yeah, it just didn't enter my mind 42:57 which I praise God for 42:59 because that would have made me probably panic 43:01 or you know get to feel worse. 43:04 The angels of the Lord encampeth around 43:05 about those who fear Him and deliver them. 43:08 This is, I mean, I know we have another picture here 43:10 I want to go to in just a moment. 43:12 But here you are, I mean, 43:14 I know you talked about not swimming. 43:17 And you know we just go, 43:19 we like to snorkel, things like that. 43:20 We always wear a little life jacket. 43:22 Little Life jacket. A light one. 43:23 A light one because you know anything could happen 43:27 but here you are with no life jacket, 43:30 the strength that God gave you for five to six hours. 43:35 That's like an Olympian. 43:36 And you're not eating along the way, 43:39 you're not taking a snack. 43:40 You didn't probably have a meal on this flight 43:42 'cause there's no flight attendant. 43:43 Right. So the Lord is your strength. 43:48 And your shield and your deliver, 43:50 that's just an amazing story. 43:52 And the light. 43:53 And there are few things I must tell you, 43:55 before we finish too that, 43:57 as I was swimming after I'd seen that little light up, 43:59 I began to think of things that are happening 44:02 and had been happening in my life. 44:04 The very first day, 44:05 my wife and I arrived in the Solomon Islands. 44:07 We were taken for a drive through town, 44:09 and the steering broke 44:11 and the person driving couldn't control us 44:13 and the car was weaving in and out, 44:15 traffic and like, I cried out, Lord, 44:17 save us and He did. 44:18 And we missed all the traffic and slid against a fence. 44:22 Couple of months later, 44:24 my wife and I and my daughter had come out from Australia. 44:26 And we went down on a Sabbath to district meetings 44:29 and a baptism, down the coast 44:32 and on the way back, 44:33 I got to the place 44:35 where there's the only good road in Solomon Islands 44:37 a sealed road 44:39 and I was driving a borrowed four wheel drive 44:43 and I was doing probably 50 kilometers, 44:47 50 miles an hour. 44:48 And suddenly the back wheel seized up 44:51 and I couldn't control the steering 44:52 and it was sliding and I was, you know, again cried out, 44:55 "Lord save us." 44:56 And the big truck was coming toward us, 44:58 full of coconuts and I thought this is it. 45:02 Suddenly the four wheel drive 45:04 swung across into the long grass 45:06 almost tipped over and stopped. 45:08 A truck driver stopped, 45:09 pulled us out 'cause the engine wouldn't work. 45:12 They got back out on the road. 45:13 I prayed again. 45:15 The engine started and we drove off, no problem. 45:18 And the next day the mechanic checked it all over it. 45:21 He said, there's no reason why that should have happened. 45:23 No damage, no brakes seizing up, no, nothing. 45:26 The adversary had been trying for a long time. 45:29 And that's what was coming into my mind. 45:31 This is a spiritual battle going on here. 45:34 A couple of months later I was on the Board 45:35 of Pacific Adventist University, 45:37 I'd flown over there, 45:38 was about to be taken back to the airport 45:40 and the driver came to a T-junction 45:42 and had to turn left 45:44 and he looked right instead of left 45:46 and he went out in the middle of road truck came around 45:50 and the side mirrors just clipped. 45:52 Oh. 45:54 So that was three things that had happened. 45:57 And at the same time 45:59 what was happening in the Solomon Islands, 46:00 there was an ethnic conflict, there was battles going on, 46:02 there were guns being fired around 46:05 and it was real trouble there. 46:07 And our church was in the middle of trying to, 46:09 to bring reconciliation. 46:11 And up in the mountains it was a spiritualist movement, 46:14 which was trying to get rid of Christianity 46:17 from the Solomon's. 46:18 Miraculous things were happening 46:20 and some of our members were being influenced by that. 46:23 They said, "They've got the power of God." 46:26 Down in Port Vila, 46:27 there was a break off movement that was criticizing myself 46:30 and our church has been Babylon 46:32 and they were people being led away 46:34 from our church to them. 46:36 And I saw all of this just come before me and said, 46:38 "This is Satan trying to destroy me 46:41 as a representative of his church." 46:44 And I again, prayed the Lord, 46:45 please bring something out of this 46:47 or bring glory to Your name 46:48 and make Your people rejoice. 46:50 And when I saw all of that, or in my mind, 46:52 I actually did something that makes me laugh even now, 46:56 I shook my fist up at the sky and said, 46:58 "Satan, you get out of the way. 47:00 Jesus is stronger than you are and we're gonna get to shore. 47:03 That's right. 47:04 And here you are to testify that you kept going. 47:07 Isn't that amazing? Yes. 47:09 We have a couple more pictures I want to show 47:10 and just let our audience know what they're seeing. 47:12 Bring the next one up so we can see what that is. 47:15 This is a... 47:17 The night after the morning we arrived, 47:18 this is a picture of a pray service 47:21 that was held in the main church in Port Vila, 47:23 and the man with me is of course Wesley 47:26 who was one of the survivors. 47:28 And we just were able to share our testimony, 47:30 it was in the newspapers the next day 47:32 and front page and so forth, 47:34 and it was a wonderful time to share with people 47:38 who had been praying for us. 47:39 That's right. What had actually happened? 47:41 Okay, your wife and you eventually met up. 47:45 Now this is. What was that? 47:47 'Cause I know, if I just survived death, 47:51 if the Lord just brought me out of a near, 47:53 near, near death experience. 47:55 What was it like to embrace your wife when you saw her? 47:58 Yes. Oh, it was wonderful. 48:00 And we had to wait two days 48:02 because the planes were grounded for that time. 48:05 And then when she... 48:06 When we got together, she, I just said, Look, 48:09 please just open the Bible and read me something please 48:11 and she read some texts from Psalms 139 48:14 that were so applicable and the Lord knows us 48:17 whether in the darkness or the deep of this ocean, 48:20 and it was a great blessing. 48:22 And you know, I'm really privileged to be alive, 48:25 and I thank God that He gave me that experience. 48:29 I wouldn't like to go through it again. 48:31 And I remember when I was swimming 48:34 and nearly dying right near the end there 48:37 and I heard saw this beach and I heard some noise 48:40 that sounded like rough waves, and I thought, oh, no, 48:42 I'm going to tread on a stone fish and get poisoned. 48:45 I'm going to get cut on the reef. 48:48 Right, I am almost there. 48:49 Yeah, almost there, all these negative thoughts. 48:51 And then I think the Lord told me just, you know, 48:54 get rid of those thoughts and I thought, doesn't matter. 48:57 I don't care if I'm in a hospital 48:59 for a month bandaged from head to foot, 49:00 I'm gonna make it to the shore. That's right. 49:03 And I believe that's a lesson for us too that, 49:06 you know and I tell people this. 49:07 If we're going through whatever troubles we're going through, 49:10 life might seem tough, 49:11 but if we keep focused on reaching that shore. 49:15 Remember in Philippians, it says that 49:17 "Jesus suffered and died and so forth 49:19 for the joy that was set before Him." 49:21 Oh, yes. 49:22 And I think the joy that set before us 49:25 is it's not the problems we're facing now. 49:27 It's reaching the shore, 49:29 being saved when Jesus comes. 49:31 And I was so glad too of the assurance of salvation 49:34 when I thought I was going to die. 49:36 I wasn't afraid because not because I'm a good person, 49:40 but the promises of God. 49:41 Amen. 49:43 And I just wish that everyone, 49:46 every Adventist, every person listening 49:48 could have that assurance that no matter what happens 49:51 if we trust Jesus, He will save us 49:54 and that we don't have to be afraid of dying. 49:56 This life is only a small speck of eternity. 49:59 Exactly. That's right. 50:01 And we just need to look forward 50:03 with that vision before us of the soon coming of Jesus. 50:06 Like good Peter, what do you say, Lord, save me, 50:09 Right, just three words. 50:11 Yeah, that's true. Yeah, save me. 50:14 And that's where you are, save me. 50:16 You have a scripture, Hon? 50:17 Yeah, this reminds me of the shipwreck of Paul. 50:20 And when as I'm listening to that, 50:23 in Acts 27:43, it says, 50:25 "But the centurion, you know, the soldiers were just losing. 50:29 They didn't think they were going to make it. 50:31 It says, but the centurion wanted, 50:34 wanting to say Paul kept them from their purpose, 50:38 and commanded that those who could swim 50:41 should jump overboard first and get to land. 50:44 And the Bible says in verse 44, and the rest, some on board, 50:47 some on parts of the ship, 50:49 and so was that they all escaped 50:51 safely to land. 50:54 You know, it's amazing when you think about 50:55 what happened in Pastor Watt's life and, 50:58 Honey, that's not a situation we would ever want to be in. 51:01 And thank the Lord for that not being our experience. 51:03 But every one of us has an experience 51:05 that when we come out on the other side of it, 51:07 could be a health scare. 51:09 It could be a marriage scare, it could be your children, 51:12 something happened to a sibling, or you know, 51:15 people have talked about twins 51:16 when the other one sense something 51:18 shock during the day 51:19 and they find out that their identical twin 51:21 went through a tragedy, whatever the case may be, 51:24 what you've learned so far, 51:26 is that nothing catches God by surprise. 51:29 You know, Pastor Watts, 51:31 you know that this is not a surprise to God, 51:33 but He made sure that your wife wasn't with you. 51:36 When she was supposed to be with you. 51:37 When she's supposed to be there. 51:38 Yeah, I thank God for that. 51:40 He gave you strength to swim. Oh. 51:42 And the nourishment came from Him. 51:44 And then to be able to glorify His name 51:46 through it all was the apex of the whole thing. 51:50 Praise God. 51:51 And so, you know, you think about that, Hon, 51:53 we're not done the program yet, 51:54 but we're going to give you 51:56 a few closing thoughts on the other side, 51:57 but I want you to think about this 51:58 as we go to news break. 52:00 Think about where you are in your walk with God 52:02 and you may be facing crisis right now 52:05 that's calling on your faith. 52:07 You may be watching from a hospital bed 52:09 or you may be watching after an accident 52:11 or near miss and something in your day, 52:13 you may be wondering what the future holds. 52:16 Hold on to that thought. 52:17 And on the other side of our news break, 52:19 we're going to close the program, 52:21 and we're going to encourage you but don't go away. 52:23 We'll be back in just a few moments. |
Revised 2019-12-02