What is going on here? Why is this man feeding seagulls? What could compel him to do this – as he does week after week?

The man in that scene was Eddie Rickenbacker, a famous World War II pilot. His plane, The Flying Fortress, went down in 1942 and no one though he would be rescued. Perhaps you have read or heard how he and eight passengers escaped death by climbing into two rafts for thirty days. They fought thirst, the sun, and sharks. Some of the sharks were nine feet long. The boats were only eight feet long. But what nearly killed them was starvation. Their rations were gone within eight days, and they didn’t have anything left.

Rickenbacher wrote that even on those rafts, every day they would have a daily devotion and prayer time. One day after the devotional, Rickenbacker leaned back and put his hat over his eyes and tried to get some sleep. Within a few minutes he felt something on his head. He knew in an instant it was a seagull which had perched on his raft. But he knew that they were hundreds of miles out to sea. Where did this seagull come from? He was also certain that if he didn’t get that seagull he would die. Soon all the others on the two boats noticed the seagull. No one spoke, no one moved. Rickenbacker quickly grabbed the seagull, and with thanksgiving, they ate the flesh of the bird. They used the intestines for fish bait and survived.

Rickenbacher never forgot that visitor who came from a foreign place. That sacrificial guest. Every week, he went out on the pier with a bucket of shrimp and said thank you, thank you, thank you.

The apostle Paul wrote, “For Christ’s love compels us . . .” (2 Corinthians 5:14). The word “compels” means literally, “leaves me no choice.” Paul is saying “I have no choice but to respond to the love of Christ with my whole being – to say thank you, thank you, thank you. As we head into November and as Thanksgiving Day approaches think of all the things that you are thankful for and say thank you, thank you, thank you.