A group of Christian surfers in New Zealand say that God placed them in the perfect position to be His hands and feet to a family that faced death on Christmas Day.

The five members of the North Shore Christian Surfers Group saved the lives of a mother and her two teenage sons who caught in a rip tide off the shore of a beach an hour west of Auckland.

The woman and her sons had almost drowned when someone on the beach screamed to the five men to help.  They quickly swam with their boards to the victims who were floundering about 30 yards offshore.  The group placed the three victims across their five boards and slowly worked their way to shore.

“They were pretty exhausted and pretty far out, and weren’t making any progress towards land,” group member Darren Celliers said. “It was pretty freaky.”

“The younger brother was just freaking out. He was scared and in shock,” Celliers added. “We spent the first few minutes trying to calm him down and explain that he was going to be all right.”

The New Zealand Herald reported five drownings connected to vicious rip tides in the last week.