A Man And A Bucket of Shrimp (Taken from the internet.)Reference Max Lucado, In the Eye of the Storm, pp.221, 225-226
A very shortened version: Every Friday evening Old Ed comes to the beach to his favorite pier. In his bony hand he clutches a bucket of shrimp.
Before long, a thousand seagulls have enveloped him, and he stands there feeding shrimp to the hungry birds. He smiles and says "Thank you."
When the bucket is empty, he begins to walk back toward the beach. Old Ed makes his way down to the end of the beach and on home.
He might seem like a 'funny duck,' as some would say. Most would probably write Old Ed off, down there in Florida. That's too bad. His full name: Eddie Rickenbacker.
He was a famous hero back in World War II. On one of his flying missions across the Pacific, he and his seven-member crew went down. Miraculously, they all survived and climbed into a life raft, where they floated for 22 days on the Pacific's rough waters. They fought the sun, sharks, and most of all, they fought hunger. By the 8th day their rations ran out. They were hundreds of miles from land, and no one knew where they were.
That afternoon they had a simple devotional service and prayed for a miracle. Time dragged. All Eddie could hear was the slap of the waves against the raft. Suddenly, Eddie felt something land on the top of his cap. It was a seagull! With a flash of his hand, he managed to grab it and wring its neck. He and his starving crew made a meal of it. Then they used the intestines for bait.. With it, they caught fish, which gave them food and more bait. They were able to survive until they were found and rescued after 22 days at sea. One man died--Rickenbacker the oldest on the raft, lost 54 lbs.
Eddie died in 1973, but he never forgot the sacrifice of that first lifesaving seagull, and he never stopped saying, "Thank you." That's why almost every Friday night, he would walk to the end of the pier with a bucket full of shrimp and a heart full of gratitude.
PS. Eddie started Eastern Airlines.
