A young brother and sister faced a watery and frightening death as they passed the point of no return in a small aluminum row boat on the great Niagara River. This account involving Roger and Deanne Woodward reads as follows:

It was a warm Saturday morning when Jim Honeycutt took his neighbor's children, Deanne and Roger Woodward, for a boat ride in the upper Niagara River. . . . Honeycutt piloted his small aluminum boat through the deceptively calm Grass Island Pool toward the rapids above the Falls. Intent, perhaps, on giving the kids a good view of the rapids, Honeycutt was soon past what experienced Niagara boaters call the point of no return. Honeycutt sensed danger too late. He turned the boat around, but a shear-pin failure disabled the motor and left the boat wallowing in the swift current.

In spite of Honeycutt's frantic efforts with the oars, the boat was soon in the rapids. Roger was already wearing a life jacket and Deanne quickly put her's on. Seconds later the light boat flipped end over end. Honeycutt and Roger were shipped toward the brink of the Falls. Deanne still clinging to the upturned boat, was carried into the shallow rapids near Goat Island. . . . Within a few feet of the brink of the Falls at Terrapin Point, Deanne clutched at the hand of a rescuer who leaned far out over the protective railing. . . . She was dragged to safety just seconds before the river would have carried her to a savage death on the rocks below. Roger, his small 55-pound body buoyed up by the life jacket, was swept over and outwards by the trajectory of the Falls. Honeycutt disappeared in the three thousand tons of water that crash over the Horseshoe each second. Moments later the captain of the Maid of the Mist could hardly believe his eyes when he saw an orange life jacket appear in the boiling white water at the base of the Falls. A life belt was thrown and within minutes Roger Woodward was safely aboard. He was the first person to survive the Horseshoe Falls without a protective capsule. His friend, Jim Honeycutt, died in the maelstrom. Four days later the river gave up his body. *

It all happened because they floated past that place in the river, the point of no return, the place where the force and flow of the water could not be humanly withstood. Isn't it wonderful to know that there is no "point of no return" when it comes to drifting away from God. One of the famous Bible accounts is the Prodigal Son. Though he had left home, wasted all his father's substance, lived a riotous life, and was now in a pig pen, feeding the swine, so hungry that he was thinking about eating their food to survive, the son knew that he could always turn around and go home.

The Bible is clear in its teaching that we can always confess our wrong-doing and repent. We can always turn around and come back to the Heavenly Father. There is no point where the currents of life, the drift of our sinful nature, the pull of wrong-doing has brought us so far that God does not hear a call for help and deliverance. Unfortunately, Satan would like to convince us that there are sins and situations from which there is no point of return. Satan, and at times our own thinking, has convinced us that there is no use trying to avoid the soon coming consequences and disasters. We have just gone too far, we have passed that point at which God cares to hear our cries or will pull us out of the fast moving waters.

The truth is that God is a God of mercy! His desire is always to call us back home. In fact, even though we may already be going over the falls and experiencing the consequences of our sin, He can bring us out of the mighty waters of death and keep us alive through the most deadly experiences of life. Never forget there is no "Point Of No Return," when it comes to God's working in the lives of people in this world. The invitation is always open, "Come Home."

Save me, O God; for the waters are come in unto my soul. I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing: I am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me. . . . Deliver me out of the mire, and let me not sink: let me be delivered from them that hate me, and out of the deep waters. Let not the floodwater overflow me, nor let the deep swallow me up; and let not the pit shut its mouth on me. Hear me, O Lord, for Your lovingkindness is good; turn to me according to the multitude of Your tender mercies.

Psalm 69

* "Niagara and the Daredevils