Where is God When ... You Don't Know How to Swim

Recently I took my two sons, Ryan (5 ½), and Will (almost 3), swimming at my friend Debbie’s house. It was an overcast day so the temperature was cool.

Debbie’s pool has both a deep and shallow ends. My boys, who don’t know how to swim, stayed mostly in the shallow end. Will, however, sported his blue and green life jacket which made him feel invincible. Will has hardly any fear anyway, so this life jacket made him fearless in the water.

Ryan, the more cautious of the two, didn’t wear his life jacket, but never passed the blue rope separating the deep end from where he played in the shallow water.

The swim date went on normally. We were there probably three hours before the dark clouds started to drip rain. As Debbie and I gathered up the pool toys and chair cushions, our kids got out of the pool.

And although Debbie and I both had our swim suits on under our clothes, we never got in the pool. That was until I was carrying chair cushions into the garage, miss stepped and walked right in to the shallow end of the pool. I yelled out as the pool casing banged against my legs, leaving bruises on both. I was a little stunned at first, and mostly wet, but I was ok. I climbed out and went on with the business of cleaning up.

I went back to gather my things and my boys' things and made sure both boys were safely out of the pool and drying off. Debbie was also there, cleaning up. And her older children, who can both swim, were cleaning up, too.

As I took a load of toys, life jackets and other items of mine to my van, Debbie and the crew continued cleaning up. She took the long pool broom and was fishing out leaves. Will wanted a turn, so she let him have one. She stayed very close as he balanced the heavy broom. He did fine until he eventually dropped it in the deep end of the pool, far out of the reach of all of us.

It was time to go, but Debbie’s son was having trouble retrieving the pool broom from the bottom of the pool. Since I was already wet and my son dropped it in, I decided it was best that I dive in and get it.

I dove in, scooped up the broom and resurfaced. I handed the broom to Debbie, as we joked about me getting wet right before we were about to leave.

Then a loud splash interrupted our conversation. Time moved into slow motion as Debbie swung her head around and shouted, “Will!”

Will had decided to jump in the water – without his life jacket. Although he jumped in the shallow end, the water was still above his head. He sank to the bottom of the pool, eyes wide and mouth open, arms and legs madly paddling to resurface.

As I clung to the side of the pool about 30 feet away from my son, I couldn’t seem to move. But Debbie didn’t hesitate. She jumped in, clothes and all and reached down to grab my struggling toddler.

He came up, coughed and then loudly cried. I finally freed myself from my shock and moved quickly through the water to him and held him and comforted him. I also reminded him that he didn’t know how to swim, how much he scared me and that he should NEVER do that again. He seemed to agree.

The more I have thought about that situation, the more I have blamed myself. I should have never taken off his life jacket before he left the pool area. I should have watched him more closely. I should have told him again not to jump in the water without his life jacket.

In many ways, I was at fault, and I know it. And I have learned a lesson. But the final decision to jump in that water was still his. I can’t be in his head or even with him at every moment to correct his every step, even though I want to.

That must be how God feels. He wants us to listen and obey Him. He wants us to make wise choices, but because He gave us free will, sometimes we jump in the water when we don't know how to swim.

And I can just imagine God’s reaction – like most parent’s reaction – would be horror as we sink to the bottom. Then we flail and struggle to try to save ourselves. And we don’t know how to swim, so we sink further and further down.

I can just see God clinging to the side of the pool and thinking how upset He is and how what is happening is grieving Him and scaring Him all at the same time. He is there watching us sink.

But that’s when our savior comes in. Without hesitation, God’s son Jesus jumps in with no regard to Himself. He swiftly moves over to the spot where we went in the water. And as we reach up to Him for help, He reaches down and lifts us out of the water.

We come up and we gasp for air and we cry out in pain and in fear. But then we are safe in His arms. He hands us to our Father, who comforts us and keeps us safe.

Our Father whispers to us how scared He was for us. How He saw us go in over our heads and try to help ourselves, but how we were unable to resurface. He tells us how much He loves us and how He doesn’t know what He would do if anything were to ever happen to us. He wraps a towel around us to warm us and keep us from shaking. He pleads with us to never do something like that again. He reminds us to wear our life jackets until we learn how to swim.

God was with me, too, when I fell in the pool. But because I knew how to swimso when I fell in, I was ok - not nearly as scared and able to use a little help to pull myself up. It still hurt. I got all wet and hadn’t intended to. I was even bruised with ugly black, blue, purple and yellow marks that have lasted two weeks now. They are serving as little painful reminders of my miss step.

And when my parents saw my bruise, they hurt for me and were concerned about what happened. They reminded me to be more careful and to not be so careless. And I knew that I should have asked for help and not taken on such a load.

God is there for us as believers. We will make mistakes, take miss steps. We will fall and get wet and bruised and have to back track even. But we know how to swim because we have God.

None of us are born knowing how to swim. It is something we have to learn how to do. And it is likely that at one time or another, we have gotten in over our head and had to be rescued or helped up.

Sometimes we are given false hope when we somehow manage to keep our head above water as we struggle in the water. We think we can swim. But sooner or later, we find out we can’t do it by ourselves.

All we have to do is reach out to Jesus’ hand, which is already extended and waiting for us to grab hold. That hand has been there all along waiting for us to grab it and accept the salvation God is offering us. Jesus is like the life saver thrown to a drowning man. It may have hung on the wall by the pool all along, but until you were ready to accept its help, it wasn’t used.

I learned how to swim years ago, but still need help from time to time. And I make it a policy to never swim alone. I am sure to take my Father along with me to help keep me safe and to forgive me in advance when I take a miss step.

What about you? Are you still trying to do it all alone? Are you struggling to keep your head above water, frantically paddling and fearful of the moment when you can’t do it anymore? Are you looking around for a life saver but not sure where to find one?

If that’s you, then accept that hand that is being offered to you. That hand of help that comes from Jesus. He is right there waiting for you to reach to Him for help. And with His help, you will learn to swim. You won’t always be a perfect swimmer, but you will also have some help whenever you need it. And once you learn to swim, life will be so much easier. Some days it will be an easy float. Sometimes a marathon dog paddle. Nevertheless, your head will assuredly be above water.

What a peaceful feeling.