MEREDITH, Fla. – Two teenagers were enjoying their senior skip day on a Florida beach when they suddenly found themselves stranded in the ocean, praying for help, according to WSMV.
Tyler Smith and Heather Brown, both 17, go to Christ's Church Academy in Jacksonville. The pair have been friends since the fourth grade.
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On April 18, the two were swimming off a beach near St. Augustine when they were swept out to sea by a strong current. The teens fought the waves for two hours, and then began to pray.
“I cried out, 'If you really have a plan for us, like, come on. Just bring something,'” Smith said.
Just a few minutes later, a boat named The Amen came to their rescue after the crew heard the teens' desperate screams.
"I started swimming towards it. I was like, 'I’m going to get this boat. Just stay here. I’m going to get this boat. We are going to live,'” Brown said.
Eric Wagner, the captain of The Amen, gave them life jackets and pulled the teens on board because they were too weak to climb the ladder onto the boat.
"When things calmed, we escorted them to a cabin," Wagner said in a statement published on the school's Facebook page. "He told me that no matter what direction they swam, they kept going out. Exhausted and near the end, the boy told me he called out for God's help. Then, we showed up. I told them the name of the vessel and that's when they started to cry."
"The young couple was gracious and grateful to us and to God. It was the latter all along," he continued.