By Cal Grove
Nineteen-year-old Blake Spataro was on vacation at St. Simon Island off the Georgia coast, wading in shallow water, when suddenly his day became a nightmare.
Before he had a chance to react, an undertow swept him into the ocean. He said he tried to call for help, but no one heard. As he tread water, alone, off the coastline, night set in, where he would remain for almost ten hours, according to Fox News.
How he survived models a lesson in courage and character, and in faith.
“I didn’t want to die out there. I was talking to God the entire night,” said Spataro
Meanwhile, the U.S. Coastguard launched a frantic search to find him. His family joined in on the effort. His father, Kirk, spent all night walking up and down the beach, desperate to find his son.
“I was screaming. I was hollering. I was looking,” Spataro told CBS Local affiliate Action News Jax.
Blake Spataro, stuck in the ocean, didn’t give up on his life.
“Whenever I was tired I floated on my back,” he said. “I was too young to die and I didn’t want it to end there.”
Over the course of almost 10 hours, his hope ran thin. He was ready to quit when suddenly a U.S. Coast Guard vessel cast a spotlight in his direction, and he began swimming in its direction.
“I’ve been in the Coast Guard for 18 years and I have never seen anything like this,” said Justin Irwin, senior U.S. Coast Guard chief in Brunswick.
Source : Breaking Christian News
