I couldn’t have been more eager to write this blog post than I am right now. Let me give you a little bit of a back story of why this post came about….
I just got back home from the swimming pool with a friend, and I’m STILL trying to calm my heart rate!!! My friend and I were in need of some outdoor attention. So we decided to go to the pool at her apartment complex since the weather was nice. I was sitting on the side of the pool, while my friend swam and I kept getting attacked by fire ants. Typically we just leave after we get out, but this time we sat down to dry off and chat a bit more before we left. While we were chatting, 3 teenage boys, 1 teenage girl, and 1 (8yr-10yr old) boy arrived at the pool. The youngest boy got in on the shallow end as his crew sat in chairs surrounding the pool. I noticed that the young boy was able to go under water and paddle himself above water. Of course, my friend and I being observant and professional people watchers, watched as the teenagers urged the the young boy to jump in the deep end. They told him, “that’s the only way you’ll learn to really swim.” The boy was amped to jump in the deep end as the older boys reassured him that the teenage girl would jump in and save him if he was on the verge of drowning. At this point, my friend and my chat stopped. Without hesitation, the young boy jumped in the deep end. He doggie-paddled his way to the top as his crew cheered him on to swim to the shallow end. The boy paddled his little heart out with the biggest smile on his face…. Except he was paddling in one spot. His crew laughed and shouted, “you’re not moving!!” He failed to kick his legs and the excitement he once had quickly turned to panic as he began to tire out. I could see the panic in his eyes as he realized he jumped too far from the edge of the pool to reach for it and save himself. The young boy began to fail to keep himself up and went under helplessly. He was able to belt out, “HELP” before he went back under again. Mind you, his crew was STILL merely rooting him on from the sidelines of the pool. I yelled in anguish, “get him!!!” The teenage girl finally jumped into the pool to his rescue. She was unsuccessful in doing so because instead of swimming to him she tried to tip and reach for him (mind you she was petite and in the deep end). Noticing the girl is not going to risk herself any further and the young boy is drowning before our eyes, I quickly jump from my seat, grab the boy and fling him to the side of the pool to safety. The teenage boys pulled the young boy out and of course the boy was mortified, trembling, and crying in fear of what just almost happened. The crew tried to calm him down as they told him he had to learn how to swim and they all learned the same way. The little boy continued to repeat, “I’m NEVER doing that again!” As they laughed the event off, my friend and I (nerves shot) immediately left. As we left, we drove by the pool and the boy was wrapped in his towel in seemingly good spirits and the teenage girl next to him carelessly taking selfies.
As I drove away, I was reminded that had my friend and I not stayed a moment longer, these careless kids could have had a different situation on their hands. Life as they once knew it may have not have been so peachy. If we left two seconds before we did, I wouldn’t have been in position to save a life. Earlier that day, when I asked my friend if she wanted to go to the pool she turned me down because she didn’t want to ruin her new hairstyle. We had actually planned to go hiking after we left church, but due to a car situation, those plans were complicated. This orchestration was nothing but God.
I’m not saying that the young boy would have drowned if we weren’t there, but his crew surely had no sense of urgency to help even with his desperate cries, as they cheered from outside of the pool. I realized how important it is to be present in the moment and to move from your position when God says move. It doesn’t matter what your peers may say or think about you in the process. Each and every one of our lives are hanging in the balance, and we can’t just sit on the sidelines while someone is crying out for help. If we choose to stay complacent, we just may cost someone else their lives and possibly our own. We will have to give an account for everything we do on this earth whether good or bad. It would be a shame if we let our lives go by, and all we did was sit on the sidelines and allowed others to drown. God is calling us to our posts, Friend. Don’t stay stagnant, don’t stay complacent. The world needs your help, the world needs your action. Matthew 9:37-38 says, “Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few;38 therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” WE are the laborers my friend. God has given us all a charge to fulfill on the earth during our stay. I’m here to tell you that life is not a game. It’s all fun and games until someone drowns before your eyes. It’s time to get off of the sidelines and win souls for the Kingdom of Heaven. Wake up my friend, we’ve got lives to save.