In Rudyard Kipling’s novel Captains Courageous, Harvey Cheyne Sr. sat alone in his office contemplating retirement as one of the richest rail-road barons in America, when he received a telegram.

Five months earlier Cheyne’s only son, fifteen year old Harvey Jr, had been swept off the deck of a luxury ocean liner in a storm, while on a trip to Europe with his mother. The telegram Harvey Senior received read: “Picked up by fishing schooner We’re Here having fallen off boat great times on Banks fishing all well waiting in Gloucester Mass. Care Disko Troop for money or orders wire what shall do and how is Mama? Harvey N Cheyne.”

Harvey junior had been a spoiled boy whose parents issued very few restrictions to his behavior or his conversation. Most of the novel deals with Harvey’s life aboard a small fishing boat in the late nineteenth century off of Massachusetts. It is a “coming of age” story full of eccentric characters and great adventures before Harvey is transformed from a nearly hopelessly selfish child to a conscientious young man, proud of his newly acquired skills. The captain and owner of the boat, Disko Troop, is a stern task master, but well respected and liked by his crew, which includes Dan, his own son.

Harvey’s ordeal for five months on the ocean without sight of land shapes the story as it shapes Harvey’s life into more than he had ever known or experienced before, as Disko makes it clear that Harvey must earn his keep, Dan befriends him, and they fish for a five month season before returning to Massachusetts.

For that five months Harvey Sr. and his wife are sunk in the belief that their son is dead, as the We’re Here has no means of communicating with the land. While young Harvey is the focus of this novel, I found the character of his father to be equally interesting as he found himself wondering if he had been all the father he could have been to his son. Both Cheneys were humbled by Harvey’s incredible experience.

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (Mathew5:3)

Both father and son caught a glimpse of something that meant more to them than their self indulgent lifestyles, and the glimpse changed each into a better person. When we are conscious that Jesus is alive in us it’s like the telegram that Harvey Sr. received. Christ renews our very life and changes us.

Love in Him,

Prue