The geoduck hole

By Jacqueline Ferguson,—USA

The summer that Jimmy was five, he went to a day camp. It was on Puget Sound, on the northwestern coast of the United States. Jimmy loved going to the beach every day. He and the other kids would search for shells, play games, and splash around in the shallow water.

One day Jimmy went out to the beach with his friends and one of the teachers. The tide had gone a long, long way out, leaving wonderful damp sand to walk on. There were tiny crabs scooting everywhere, pretty shells, and pieces of driftwood. Each was shaped differently from the others. Because the tide was so low, clam hunters had been out very early that morning, hoping to catch some of the big clams, called “geoducks” (pronounced like “gooeyducks”). In order to catch a geoduck, several people dig a large hole, three to four feet across and three to four feet deep. They have to dig very fast to catch the geoduck because it digs just as fast, deeper into the hole. Usually, they fill the hole back up with sand when they are finished. But on this day, they forgot one of the holes.

The tide began to return slowly, covering the sand with a light ripple of water. Jimmy was splashing in the shallow water, and stayed far behind the other kids and the teacher. Suddenly he splashed right into the uncovered hole, which was beginning to fill with water. He fell straight down.

Jimmy tried to climb out but it was hard. The water kept coming in. When he felt it creeping up his legs, he called for help. But the others were too far away to hear him. Even though he was scared, Jimmy thought about what to do. He remembered that in Sunday School they had learned that God was always there to help when someone gets in trouble. He began to sing his favorite hymn — the first line is “Shepherd, show me how to go....”
Mary Baker Eddy wrote the words of this hymn. It's in the Christian Science Hymnal, No. 304. He liked this hymn because it made him feel safe. He knew God was his Shepherd, guarding and guiding him.

Then he stopped and asked God to show him how to get out of the hole. He found he could dig his fingers into the sides. And as he did, he could begin to pull himself up. As he dug, he kept on singing the hymn. “O’er the hillside steep,” he sang, and he dug another little notch on the wall of the hole. His feet began to find the little notches he had dug. And little by little, the side of the hole became a ladder. Before Jimmy had finished singing “Lest my footsteps stray,” he was out of the hole. Then he went with the next line of the hymn, “I will follow and rejoice / All the rugged way.”

Jimmy ran down the beach toward the rest of the children, just as they were coming to find him. He told the teacher and the children that he had thought about God as the Shepherd. And that God had shown him how to get out of the hole. They all raced toward the hole, which was now full of water. And all they could say was “wow!”

God is a faithful Shepherd who takes care of us — His “sheep” — always!

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The geoduck hole

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