Posted on 09/05/2020 12:23:58 PM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
LAKE GEORGE - It was a choppy afternoon on the lake and Jimmy MacDonald from Albany was paddling in a kayak.
As Jimmy tells it, he drifted away from his wife and stepkids because he was taking pictures with his new smartphone "and not really paying attention."
As he tried to make his way back, the water got choppier and he paddled harder before he tipped over and lost his paddle.
He was in about 30 feet of water, his ill-fitting life jacket coming up over his head and he was holding onto the kayak with one hand and his new $1,400 smartphone with the other.
He says people---other kayers and canoeists---were passing by in the distance, but the former amateur boxer's pride wouldn't let him scream for help.
So for several exhausting minutes he kept trying to right the kayak.
"That's when I said, 'Alright, I think I might die today. I think this might be it.'" I prayed to my lord and savior Jesus Christ for help."
Greg Barrett is a captain for Tiki Tours.
"A lot of things aligned that day," Barrett said.
He typically pilots partiers, but not on this day.
At first Barrett saw Jimmy's paddle and then one of his passengers said they heard a call for help.
'So as soon as I turned the boat towards him, I realized his life preserver had been in the upper portion of his head and he was, he was hanging on for dear life."
They got to him, a deckhand and the passengers pulled him on board.
And here's where it gets interesting: Jimmy is a drug counselor and a recovering addict.
MacDonald laiughed about it, "How funny is it that I've been sober for seven years and I get saved by a tiki bar?"
And not just any tiki bar---it was a bar full of priests and seminarians from the Paulist Fathers, a Catholic retreat on the lake.
Jimmy prayed for help from above and it arrived in the form of men of the cloth on a floating bar.
The priests and seminarians who were on board have no doubt that a higher power played a role in them being there exactly when Jimmy needed them.
"We're missionaries," said Chris Malano, a second-year seminarian. "For us, that day, that was our mission to be present and to help someone in need."
That someone in need says he's committed to continuing to help others drowning in addiction.
"I just take that as a sign from God that he's got me here for a real reason," said MacDonald.
Now there’s a headline you don’t see everyday! :-)
That is pretty common...
That is absolutely hilarious.
Well, there’s something you don’t see every day.
“God moves in a mysterious way
His wonders to perform;
He plants His footsteps in the sea,
And rides upon the storm...”
William Cowper
It would have been even better if Jimmy’s name was Don,and the priest yelled “Don Ho!”
Great story !
Exactly! Super hilarious.
Exactly what I was thinking.
His prayers have been answered.
What a maroon!
Holy Water!
My prosperous brother took me on a Hawaiian vacation a couple years ago. I saw a lot of tourists with cell phones enclosed in special zip lock waterproof bags. They took photos kayaking, snorkeling, swimming under a waterfall, etc. I was not about to risk my expensive phone. I used a Go-Pro knockoff I got for forty bucks on Amazon. It took great photos and videos.
He should have let go of the phone and hung on to the paddle.
But he can buy another paddle for $10.
If you need a water rescue a floating tiki bar is the way to go.
What a fabulous story!
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