Friday, August 7, 2009

Random Drowning Thought

Someone is drowning! what do you do?
Throw them a life preserver?
Jump in after them?

My knee jerk response to this random question would be "BOTH"!! -- But as always my mind begins to wander. (caution -- being in my mind is not a safe place at times -- jk)
Now the hard questions are asked. You know?!? the what if's of life that make Black and White turn into Grey.

Would our reaction change if the person drowning was different?
Stranger, Friend, Enemy, Child, or Spouse...
The hope here is that we would react the same for each one of them. Nevertheless the urgency and desperation would feel different. Maybe few people would admit if it were a stranger or someone we didn't like that maybe we would hesitate. Silently that someone else would come to the rescue.

Here's another what if... What if we didn't know how to swim? Would our response change in comparison to someone that does know how to swim? These random questions are necessary to ask.

The truth is that it wouldn't matter if I knew how to swim or lost my life for someone I love. I would jump in and trust the life preserver would save us both.

When I was in High School I remember the purpose of wrestling practice. The coach drilled into us every move. We practiced slow, fast, alone and with others. He wanted us to know those moves better than we know ourselves. He was teaching us to counter and react for every move the opponent would make. There was no doubt. If the our opponent would try to take us down by our legs ... our body would naturally sprawl out and counter.

This is the very reason why these questions need to be asked. We need to practice and know what our response would be if we came across someone who was dying -- regardless of who they are.

Another random thought crosses my mind now. Are we aware of how many people are drowning around us? The urgency may be different but the result is still death.

There are people drowning; hurting, struggling, hopeless and helpless...
Anyone willing to jump and let Jesus be the Life Preserver?
People really don't care how much we know until they know how much we care!

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