God's love and justiceSample

Available Grace

And just as it is appointed for men to die once, and after that comes judgment.

The Moken, often called “sea gypsies,” are a tribe of 181 fishermen who spend most of the year on their boats fishing in the Andaman Sea, from India to Indonesia and back to Thailand. However, they spend their Decembers living in shelters on the beaches of Thailand. In December 2004, in the hours before the infamous tsunami crashed ashore, the Moken were living on those beaches. They were in harm’s way and would likely have all perished had they not listened to their elders. In a 2004 article, “How Sea Gypsies Survived the Tsunami,” Roger Thomas explained how for generations, the elders of the tribe had passed along one piece of wisdom. According to the tribe’s sixty-five-year-old village chief, Sarmao Kathalay, that wisdom was this: “The elders told us that if the water recedes fast, it will reappear in the same quantity in which it disappeared.”

And that is exactly what happened. The sea drained quickly from the beach, leaving stranded fish flopping on the shore. How easy it would have been for those who live near the sea to run down and fill every basket available with fish. Some people did just that, in other areas of southern Thailand, but not the Moken.

When the water receded from the beach, the tribal chief ordered each one of the 181 tribal members to run to a temple in the mountains of South Surin Island. When the waters crashed ashore, the 181 sea gypsies were safe on high ground.

The Moken had been warned, and they heeded the warning to their great benefit.

God has also warned us of a coming tsunami: a tsunami of judgment. In passages like Hebrews 9:27, there is the clear warning that judgment follows death. There is no biblical evidence for another opportunity after death to trust Christ as Savior.

We have been warned of coming judgment. But there is grace available now, found in Jesus, free for the taking.