It is one of the best place to live in Bulgaria, along the west coast of the Black Sea. The weather is almost always mild. Boris always felt bad for his cousins that lived in the northern part of Bulgaria, in a city just south of the Danube River. During the winter, his cousins and their parents often couldn’t travel outside the city for weeks on end. Over the years, they were rarely able to get together for Christmas. But Boris didn’t really mind since he never understood what Christmas was about and if his relatives in the north didn’t come, there was more food for him and his family.
Boris was born in Burgass in 2003. His father is a fisherman and works with the father of Boris’ best friend, Foti. Boris and his friend Foti often go out on the Black Sea with their dads. Sometimes they go out for the whole day, helping to bring in the nets full of fish. They prefer to jump into the water and swim. They usually also do things to upset their dads like whipping the rope ladder around to make a loud sound or yelling (in Bulgarian, of course) “Help, Help, shark” or “Submarine periscope off the starboard.” If they did too many of those things, they usually weren’t asked back for a couple months.
During the summer, both boys stay with their grandparents. Both their grandfathers are fishermen and have the boys help them on their individual boats. One day, neither of their grandfathers were going to go out on the sea for the day because it was too windy. Foti was bored helping his grandmother shell peas so he decided to call Boris and see what they could find to do. Because Boris was also tired of weeding his grandparents garden, he quickly agreed to go off with Foti.
They headed down to the Black Sea coast and looked for things to toss into the crashing waves. Boris found an old coin and guessed that it was from the Roman era. He was sure it was worth a lot of money.
“I don’t think the Romans were here, just us Greeks for a long time. My grandfather said the Greeks have been here since the time of Christ.”
“Who is Christ?” Boris asked as he ran a finder over the coin.”
“You don’t know?” Foti stopped to ask.
“No, no idea. Was he a Greek king or something?”
“He wasn’t Greek, he was Jewish and He is God.”
“My dad said there aren’t any real gods, just made up ones to sort of scare people into not breaking laws.”
“No, Jesus was real. Don’t you celebrate Christmas? Its about when He came down to earth to live.”
“Oh, so that’s what Christmas is about. I never knew. I didn’t think it was just about special foods.”
“So you probably don’t know about Easter either.”
“No idea. What is it about?”
“Jesus died for our sins and then rose from the dead on Easter morning. There’s a lot of things Greeks do for Easter.”
“Wow, and we don’t do anything. I’d be fun to have another holiday. What time of year does it fall?”
“In the spring. We usually have lamb and other stuff.”
“My cousins could probably come. What kind of desserts come with Easter?
“Lots of different desserts? Maybe you could come for Easter dinner next year. You’d have to come to church. I don’t think you get to have dessert without church. But its in Greek. I’ll tell you what they are saying.”
“I’ve never been to a church. What do they do there?”
“Sing and burn candles.”
“Guess that’d be okay. Does it last very long?”
“About an hour. If we’re careful we can goof around and no one will see it.”
“Okay, then I’ll go.”
The boys walked along the shore for a little while but decided they were bored. When Boris saw his father’s boat he told Foti he thought he could manage out on the waves. Foti said he bet he couldn’t and that’s all it took for Boris to jump on deck.
“You can’t go out by yourself,” Foti called out and soon he was on deck.
Boris quickly had the boat out on the water. At first it was fun, being tossed about, but ten minutes after heading out, the boat almost capsized a few times. Boris tried his best to manage but while he was doing that, they were being carried out farther from the shore. Foti was soon so worried about where they were heading that he called his father on his cell phone.
Just as Foti was telling Boris that his father was coming, it started to rain.
“Boris, I don’t know if my dad’s gonna get here in time. The wind is carrying us out so fast, and now the rain.”
Before he answered, Boris turned away from his friend and pounded his fist on the side of the boat. “I was so stupid to think I could manage. Why didn’t you stop me?”
“I’m going to get the life preserver jackets. Where does your dad keep them?”
Boris was so scared he couldn’t even speak. Instead, he pointed to the place on the deck where the life preservers were.
After the boys got the jackets on, Foti tried to call his father again.
“He’s just pulled up to the dock, Boris, and he’s got the police to help him. We just got to last five, maybe ten minutes.”
“That’s too long,” Boris finally spoke. “We could die, Foti, and it’s my fault. I’m, I’m, Foti, I’m sorry, and, and I’m afraid. I don’t want to die.”
Just then, the boat turned far to the left and both boys were thrown to the deck.”
“Help me, Foti, I don’t want to die. What if I do?”
As both boys were sprawled on the deck, Foti told his friend “The only think I know to do is pray, Boris. God will help us.”
“I don’t know how to do that. I could die before I learn how. Help me, Foti.”
“I’ll pray for both of us. Okay”
“Yes, hurry up and do it Foti!”
“Okay, okay. Well, here goes. Dear God, we’re really in trouble down here, could…” Foti’s prayer was interrupted by the boat tipping to the side again and the boys sliding down the deck. This time the boat took on water which ran down the deck.
“Cut to the chase, man,” Boris yelled.
“Please help us God.” Foti tried to get up but the boat again to tip again, causing him to fall. “Hold onto my arm Boris,” Foti called out. “That way we’ll anchor each other. My dad and the police will be here soon.”
Boris reached out for Foti’s arm and held onto his friend. “God don’t let us die. I’ll do whatever you want me to do.”
The boat tipped again and Boris tightened his grip. When a wave came over the side and covered the boys. “It’s getting worse, now,” Boris yelled over the roar of the waves.
“I know,” Foti yelled back, but the police have boats with motors. They’ll be here soon.”
“If they can find us.”
“We just have to have faith, Boris. That’s all that we’ve got. Hold on to me.”
The boat tipped a few more times but finally the roar of a motor could be heard. Foti’s father was soon over the side and calling to the boys.
When he got to them, he tied a rope around each boy then hugged them.
“Hold on tight, fellows,” he told them as he held up a piece of the rope.
“I will,” Boris answered, “and I’ll never let go again.”
Activity
Lost at Sea – Do you know the names of the Seas?
As he brought the good news of the gospel to the people living near Israel, St. Paul did a lot of travelling on the seas in the area. Although he probably didn’t get to Thrace (the area where present day Bulgaria is located), the sea in the story about Boris notes the name of that sea. Use the clues, maps and your Bible to find the names of the other seas described below.
- This sea is located to the east of mainland Greece and west of Turkey. The name has more vowels than consonants.
______ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____
- The Israelites crossed this sea after a miracle created a dry path for them.
_____ _____ _____
- This sea was created after the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.
_____ _____ _____ _____
- This is the sea that lies to the east of the country of Bulgaria. Boris and his friend were caught in a storm on it.
_____ _____ _____ _____ _____
- Israel, Turkey, Greece, Egypt, Italy, and many other countries border this large sea on which St. Paul often travelled.
____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____
If you take the 3rd letter of the first sea, the 1st letter of the second sea described, the 2nd letter of number 3, the 3rd letter of the next sea, and the 5th letter of number 5, it’ll spell a word that describes what kind of news the angels told the shepherds about on the first Christmas.
_______ _______ _______ _______ _______