Teens stranded in the ocean who prayed for help were rescued by boat named 'The Amen'

Hope Schreiber
·Writer
Updated
Two high school seniors stranded in the ocean prayers were answered when a boat, called "Amen," rescued them. (Photo: Twitter)
Two high school seniors stranded in the ocean prayers were answered when a boat, called "Amen," rescued them. (Photo: Twitter)

Two Florida high school seniors are praising their rescuers and a higher power after their senior skip day turned into a nightmare when they were stranded at sea.

Tyler Smith and Heather Brown, who attend Christ's Church Academy in Jacksonville, Fla., spent their day off from school swimming off of Vilano Beach on Thursday, when they realized they were exhausted from fighting waves back to shore.

Tyler said they began to pray after being stranded for two hours.

“I cried out: 'If you really do have a plan for us, like, come on. Just bring something,'” the 17-year-old soccer player told Jacksonville news station WJAX-TV.

Tyler held onto Heather as he was cramping. Thankfully, Captain Eric Wagner and his crew, on their way from Florida to New Jersey, spotted the teens in the water.

"Over all the wind, waves, and engines, we thought we heard a desperate scream," Captain Wagner told the station. "Exhausted and near the end, the boy told me he called out for God's help. Then we showed up."

Wagner took his boat, "The Amen," to the teens as he called the Coast Guard.

"I told them the name of the vessel, that's when they started to cry," Wagner said. "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," Tyler told Fox News.

Both Tyler Smith and Heather Brown, who graduate on May 19, plan to serve in the military. Brown plans to attend Embry Riddle University and study homeland security and be a naval ROTC marine officer, while Smith plans to attend Florida Atlantic University studying business finance while he gets his pilot's license and joins the Air Force.

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