ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. — Two Florida high schoolers who headed to the beach for senior skip day found themselves stranded in the ocean. They were reportedly saved by a boat named “Amen” after a desperate prayer for help.
According to WJAX, Tyler Smith and Heather Brown are students at Christ’s Church Academy and have been friends since fourth grade.
They went swimming off of Vilano Beach on April 18 and got stranded two miles offshore.
After fighting waves for two hours, the 17-year-olds reportedly started praying and crying out to God for help.
“I cried out: ‘If you really do have a plan for us, like, come on. Just bring something,’” Smith told the news outlet.
Smith was holding on to Brown, cramping, when Captain Eric Wagner and his crew found them. Wagner contacted the Coast Guard and took his boat, appropriately named the “Amen,” to rescue to teens.
The crew was headed towards New Jersey and decided to go on their adventure despite the rough waves.
Both Wagner and the teens were reportedly thankful for the crews’ decision.
“I told them the name of the vessel, that’s when they started to cry,” Wagner told WJAX. “The young couple was gracious and grateful to us and to God. It was the latter all along.”
“From us crying out to God, for Him to send someone for us to keep living and a boat named ‘Amen,’ there’s no way that it wasn’t Him,” Smith told the news outlet.
Christ’s Church Academy provided the following statement to WJW:
“The staff, students and families of Christ’s Church Academy are incredibly grateful for God‘s protection over Heather and Tyler. Thank you to Mr. Eric Wagner, captain of the ‘Amen’ vessel that rescued our students, for your swift action and compassion!”
The two teens graduate on May 19. They both plan on serving in the military and believe this experience will help their futures.