You Are My Rock featuring the Mustard Seed Soul Band from the album HisStory recorded and produced by Ross Gill
No Mustard Seed video next week – that’s on hold as I wanted to share the Austin Applebee story. Yes I know its been all over the news but I am still sharing because not all the accounts have told the full story.
This account comes from an online post I read from “FirstFactCheck.”
Austin Appelbee is a 13 year old boy whose Mum and siblings became stranded four kilometres out to sea.
They began their swim after a lunchtime picnic at Quindalup beach, near Geographe Bay, and were paddling in the shallows1. Two of the children, Grace and Austin, were on paddleboards and Beau was in the kayak and his mother Joanne was on another paddleboard — unfortunately, after the wind picked up, one of the kids lost one of the kayak’s oars, and then Joanne, trying to help, lost the other oar, and they found themselves floating out to sea on a rip.
There had been shark reports a few kilometres away the day before, and indeed, there was another shark report at Quindalup the day after Austin’s achievement.Bottom of Form Not having many options, Joanne sent the oldest, 13-year old Austin, to get help.
Before this, amazingly, Austin had been unable to progress to the next level of his swimming lessons because he had failed to swim for 350 metres without stopping. I think the swimming tutors should probably recognise that he is able to swim for 350 metres without stopping now.
Austin took the kayak towards shore, but it was leaky and filled with water quickly. Ultimately, after limping along for a couple of kilometres, he abandoned the kayak and the life jacket and swam for help.
Austin said, “The waves are massive, and I have no life jacket on… I just kept thinking ‘just keep swimming, just keep swimming’, and then finally I just made it to shore. I hit the bottom of the beach, and I just collapsed.”
It had taken him four hours to reach the shore.
Austin said, “And then I had to sprint two kilometres to get to the phone. There was a lot of foreign people on the beach and I couldn’t get much help, so I had to sprint to the phone. I rang triple zero and rang the police, and said I need helicopters I need planes I need boats, my family’s stuck out to sea.” he said.
The police sent out helicopters, and the rescuers reached his mother and siblings just in time — a huge wave had flipped the paddleboard they were clinging to, and his mother lost hold of the childrens’ hands. They were floating away, when the helicopter arrived and saved their lives — all because Austin had managed to reach the shore and then ran to find a phone and ring for help.
Austin ascribes his heroic deed to God: “I don’t think it was actually me [swimming]… It was God the whole time. I kept on praying, kept on praying. I said to God, ‘I’ll get baptized, I’ll get baptized’… I went to church on Sunday.”
In a Channel 7’s interview, Austin mentions that he only achieved this amazing feat because of God.
However ABC’s headline for the story was: Austin Appelbee’s incredible tale of survival has made international headlines. How did the 13 yr old do it? They mention briefly that Austin prayed, but fail completely to mention that Austin said the only way he was able to do this amazing feat was because of God.
The Guardian newspaper spent most of its article going on about heroic feats in the past that have been due to fight-or-flight situations enabling people – “to go beyond what their perceived limits are”.
Well I know what I, Austin and his family believe!
Quote of the week
