Colin and Wyatt Yager, brothers and fishermen, captured what could be the video of the year. While fishing the Portsmouth Harbor in Eliot, Maine, they saw a humpback whale breaching the water a couple of times. Colin had his fishing rod in one hand and had pulled his phone out with the other, hoping to record the movements and activities of this beautiful animal.
Humpbacks grow between 46-56 feet in length and weigh nearly 44 tons. The males are the singers, creating songs that can last over half an hour. Their diet consists of krill and other small fish. These whales are “gulp-feeders,” creating a network of bubbles to capture their prey before charging at them with their mouths wide open.
This sight is worthy of video footage. Colin captured more than he bargained for.
Several yards away off the starboard bow of the Yager vessel were fishing buddies Greg Paquette and Ryland Kenney. While fishing for stripers, they had spotted the humpback feeding and kept their distance. Unbeknownst to them, the whale was on a collision course for their vessel.
While lunging for food and with its mouth opened wide, the whale breached the water and came across the engine and the aft port corner of Paquette and Kenney’s boat, landing on it and standing it straight up in the air before rolling it and capsizing it. The fishermen were tossed overboard as their boat lay in the water, belly side up.
Remarkably, nobody was injured. The Yagers quickly brought their boat alongside the capsized boat and hauled the wet fishermen to safety. The Kenney/Paquette ship was salvaged by the Coast Guard and brought back to shore with no damage except a crack in the housing of the Yamaha 200 Four Stroke engine. If the engine needs replaced, it will cost over $20,000. That’s pretty cheap considering both men could be dead!
Both Kenney and Paquette were calm – for about an hour. Then, the events started to sink in, and Kenney said he was more scared an hour later than at the time it happened. His advice? Always wear a life jacket because you never know what could happen.1
One of the fishermen was wearing a lifejacket. The other one will from now on.
A much more dramatic whale encounter took place in the book of Jonah. Jonah has disobeyed the Lord, and he hops a ship heading the opposite direction from where the Lord wanted him to go. Through a series of events, Jonah finds himself tossed overboard and something is waiting for him.
“Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.” (Jonah 1:17) Great fish. LARGE fish. That’s all the details given by Scripture except for the fact that this great fish was prepared for Jonah.
It’s possible that this fish was made specifically by God for this event. Many commentators take that stand. Others, like the Jamiesen/Faucett/Brown Commentary, say, “not created specially for this purpose, but appointed in His providence, to which all creatures are subservient.” Either way, God has control and direction of all things, including the fish of the sea, and they move at His purpose.
Jonah would certainly have drowned had it not been for the providence and protection of God. The belly of this great fish also served as a sanctuary for Jonah, a chapel of prayer and penitence as Jonah pours his frightened, broken heart to the Lord.
Jonah 2:1-9 says, “Then Jonah prayed unto the LORD his God out of the fish’s belly, (2) And said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the LORD, and he heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice. (3) For thou hadst cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas; and the floods compassed me about: all thy billows and thy waves passed over me. (4) Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight; yet I will look again toward thy holy temple. (5) The waters compassed me about, even to the soul: the depth closed me round about, the weeds were wrapped about my 
head. (6) I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth with her bars was about me for ever: yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O LORD my God. (7) When my soul fainted within me I remembered the LORD: and my prayer came in unto thee, into thine holy temple. (8) They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy. (9) But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the LORD.”
That’s all it took! Indigestion overtook the great beast of the sea and it “vomited out Jonah upon the dry land.” (v. 10) Jonah is recommissioned in Jonah 3 and goes on to preach a message of God’s impending judgment. Upon hearing the message, the Ninevites repented and God spared their destruction.
There’s more to the story which you really should read but let me make my point for this devotional. God can use ANY means to get your attention, either to teach you something or to direct your paths.
Two fishermen in Maine will never go back to those waters – any waters – without a life jacket and I’ll guarantee that they will always have their eyes open for feeding humpbacks. This memory is emblazoned on their minds forever. I’m sure they will relive and retell this story for many years to come.
As Christians, let’s remember the lessons God has taught us through some of life’s experiences and echo Psalms 78:5-7 from our hearts. “For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children: (6) That the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their children: (7) That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments.”
1https://www.wmur.com/article/breaching-whale-crashportsmouth-harbor-72324/61679077
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