{"id":40061,"date":"2017-02-20T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-02-20T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/fishermen-risk-lives-to-rescue-whale\/"},"modified":"2017-02-20T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2017-02-20T00:00:00","slug":"fishermen-risk-lives-to-rescue-whale","status":"publish","type":"sermon-illustrations","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/fishermen-risk-lives-to-rescue-whale\/","title":{"rendered":"Fishermen Risk Lives To Rescue Whale"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In December 2016, <em>Legacy<\/em>, a small fishing boat cruising near Bodega Bay, California ran into a whale entangled by crab pots. The three fisherman on <em>Legacy<\/em> didn&#39;t have time to call for help. One of <em>Legacy&#39;s<\/em> crewmen, Valentine Parnell, described how they noticed the whale &quot;absolutely trapped,&quot; with its blowhole spouting. Ken Garliepp, <em>Legacy&#39;s<\/em> deck boss, said, &quot;I mean it was cutting into him to where he was bleeding, so I don&#39;t know how long it would have been &#39;til he&#39;s getting ripped apart by sharks. He definitely needed help.&quot;<\/p>\n\n<p>Using boat hooks, the men snagged lines and started cutting. Piece by piece the old lines slowly came off. At first the whale resisted, but then something miraculous happened. &quot;It would come and it would roll over and be like, almost showing us where the lines were on its fins,&quot; Parnell said. Garliepp said, &quot;Once we started getting stuff cut off, it was like he knew we were trying to help him, you know.&quot; Once freed, it swam around the boat several times, staying close. The men say it seemed to be saying thanks, but no one knows for sure.<\/p>\n\n<p>Back on shore, getting ready to head back out, the skipper and the crew of the <em>Legacy<\/em> were still thinking about how they saved the life of a dying whale. &quot;To see this massive, beautiful creature, that could absolutely crush you, but doesn&#39;t &hellip; It was the most intense thing I&#39;ve been a part of &hellip;,&quot; Parnell said. Garliepp added, &quot;It was a great feeling, a really great feeling. If I was to die today, you know, I would know I did something good with my life.&quot;<\/p>","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"template":"","tax_ctp_audience":[],"tax_ctp_authors":[],"tax_ctp_categories":[165],"tax_ctp_format":[171],"tax_ctp_illustration_types":[405,411],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[],"tax_publications":[140],"tax_ctp_tags":[3415,3483,3731,3767,4076,4092,4142,4281,4808,4849,4914,4938,5005,5038,5127,5256],"tax_ctp_topics":[],"class_list":["post-40061","sermon-illustrations","type-sermon-illustrations","status-publish","hentry","tax_publications-ct-pastors","tax_ctp_tags-animals","tax_ctp_tags-benevolence","tax_ctp_tags-danger","tax_ctp_tags-desperation","tax_ctp_tags-good-deeds","tax_ctp_tags-gratitude","tax_ctp_tags-helplessness","tax_ctp_tags-involvement","tax_ctp_tags-rescue","tax_ctp_tags-risk","tax_ctp_tags-self-denial","tax_ctp_tags-selflessness","tax_ctp_tags-social-action","tax_ctp_tags-spiritual-bondage","tax_ctp_tags-teamwork","tax_ctp_tags-vulnerability"],"acf":{"scripture_references":[{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null}]},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Fishermen Risk Lives To Rescue Whale - CT Pastors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/fishermen-risk-lives-to-rescue-whale\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Fishermen Risk Lives To Rescue Whale - CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In December 2016, Legacy, a small fishing boat cruising near Bodega Bay, California ran into a whale entangled by crab pots. 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