God leads family to the Middle of Nowhere

[Ian]

Family Rescued In Pacific After Sailing 'Where God Led Us'
August 11, 2013

A leap of faith that sent an Arizona family bound for the South Pacific in a sailboat has returned them in an airplane after a harrowing ordeal at sea that saw them adrift and nearly out of food in one of the remotest stretches of ocean on the planet.

Hannah Gastonguay, 26, and her husband, Sean, 30, were fed up with abortion, homosexuality, taxes and the "state-controlled church" and so "decided to take a leap of faith and see where God led us," she told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. With them were Sean's father and the couple's two daughters, one 3 years old and the other an infant.

A few weeks into their ultimately 91 days at sea, the Gastonguays encountered "squall after squall after squall" that damaged their boat. Originally on a heading for the archipelago nation of Kiribati near the international dateline, they changed course to the Marquesas Islands, but were unable to reach them either.

Along the way, they apparently suffered damage to their mast and, unable to set a foresail, made little westward progress.

They were down to "some juice and some honey" and whatever fish they could catch when a passing Canadian cargo ship tried to help out with supplies. But when it came alongside, it did even more damage to the tiny sailboat.

Eventually, the family was picked up by a Venezuelan fishing vessel.

"The captain said, 'Do you know where you're at? You're in the middle of nowhere,' " Hannah Gastonguay told the AP.

From there, the five were transferred to a Japanese cargo ship and, after three weeks, dropped off in Chile.

Gastonguay told the AP that she never thought the family was going to die: "We believed God would see us through."

In Chile, police prefect Jose Luis Lopez told the newspaper Las Ultimas Noticias:

"They were looking for a kind of adventure; they wanted to live on a Polynesian island but they didn't have sufficient expertise to navigate adequately," he said.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/201 ... god-led-us



I'd find this story more amusing if there weren't two small children involved.

[charlou]

That god .. obviously doesn't know what he's doing.

[pErvinalia]

I still can't help laughing at this. As long as there hasn't been serious damage to the children (in addition to the damage they have already probably sustained from having nutbag parents).

Religion really makes some people do stupid things.

[pErvinalia]

This actually reminds me a little bit of my Father-in-law who sailed from South Africa to Australia using an atlas as a marine chart.

I should add, though, that he's not a christian (as far as I know). He's just a crazy Aussie.

[Hermit]

That god .. obviously doesn't know what he's doing.

"On the contrary." Hannah Gastonguay replied. "HE did lead us faultlessly. We just made mistakes trying to follow HIS instructions. That's yet another proof that the LORD is perfect and humans are not.

HE tested our faith in HIM. Despite our perilous situation we never lost that, and behold, HE blessed us with a ship to rescue us. All I can say is that our faith in the LORD has only been strengthened by our experience. AMEN."

[pErvinalia]

[Svartalf]

Abortion? Sis she ever have one?
Homosexuality? Yeah, sure, I bet they had homosexual orgies every week, and if they didn't, the neighbors did.

State controlled church? OK, just what brand of morons do we have here?

[Svartalf]

That god .. obviously doesn't know what he's doing.

it tried to get them to die at sea in the middle of nowhere, to me that was a very good plan.

[charlou]

That god .. obviously doesn't know what he's doing.

"On the contrary." Hannah Gastonguay replied. "HE did lead us faultlessly. We just made mistakes trying to follow HIS instructions. That's yet another proof that the LORD is perfect and humans are not.

HE tested our faith in HIM. Despite our perilous situation we never lost that, and behold, HE blessed us with a ship to rescue us. All I can say is that our faith in the LORD has only been strengthened by our experience. AMEN."

I set 'em up, you knocked 'em down ..

[Jason]

That's my christmas gift for God sorted then: A GPS.