Of Swimming and Salvation

 ^“I love the LORD, for he heard my voice; he heard my cry for mercy. Because he turned his ear to me, I will call on him as long as I live. The cords of death entangled me, the anguish of the grave came over me; I was overcome by distress and sorrow. Then I called on the name of the LORD: "LORD, save me!" ⁵The LORD is gracious and righteous; our God is full of compassion. The LORD protects the unwary; when I was brought low, he saved me.” *

Al and I packed our gym bags a few weeks ago and headed to the gym, the first time back for me in over a year! I had missed swimming in the pool, even though I hadn’t gone that often when it was open and usually found other things to do.  However, the long absence created a new resolve to make a regular habit of swimming.

In spite of the pool being heated, the water felt cold, not too inviting. I stepped gingerly into the water, hopped up and down, finally submerged my body and then swam to the other end as fast as possible. Boy was I out of shape! There I stood gasping for air before turning around and swimming back, slower on the second length of the pool.

For the next thirty minutes, I kept moving continually alternating between swimming and jogging in the water. Despite the initial shock, it felt great to be in motion without any pain from hurting joints, except for an occasional twinge. I felt young again, agile and free even though tired afterwards from the workout.

Swimming always brings me a strong sense of connection with my family and well as great memories of fun times together. Dad coached water polo and swimming at Bakersfield Jr. College, and worked many summers as the manager of the college pool. We grew up around the water, the best place to be to escape the blistering heat of Bakersfield summers. Although I can’t remember exactly who taught me how to swim, I’m sure that both mom and dad had a part in teaching all five of us when we were very young.

Our first backyard pool was an above ground 4 foot “Doughboy.” I remember running around and around the pool in one direction with several people, until we had stirred up a very strong current, then turning around and trying to swim or run against the current and laughing hysterically when the current pulled us under.

 Dad taught us water safety skills as well as swimming techniques, cautioning us about the perils of swimming in the Kern River or other places where it would be easy to get caught by a fallen log or root and dragged under by the current. In spite of all of the training and warnings, I came very close to drowning once when backpacking with a group of friends in Kings Canyon.

While walking across one of the forks of the Kings River, I slipped on a moss-covered rock and lost my footing. The current in that spot was swifter than it looked, carrying me over a waterfall and into a large whirlpool below. It was too swift for me to swim to the bank.

As I was being swept around the whirlpool back to the cascading water, I cried out to the Lord for help. He seemed to tell me to take a deep breath of air. So I did and was immediately sucked down under the surface. After just a few seconds my body was propelled toward the bank with a mighty thrust, where I managed to crawl out onto the rocks and sat panting.

 Only a short distance from where I sat came the roar of a bigger waterfall, with a much larger and more turbulent whirlpool at its base. The Lord certainly saved me from drowning and was with me in that time of distress.

            Praise the Lord for hearing my cry for help and delivering me! And praise the Lord for seeing the emptiness in my heart and for saving me from my sins many years prior to that experience. Through Jesus, God has provided a way of salvation for those who have the faith to believe. May we open our hearts to believing and receiving Jesus so that we can say with David the psalmist,  “…when I was brought low, he saved me.”

Psalm 116: 1-6 NIV

Top picture...fun at Bakersfield College pool, summer of  '63. Brother Jack (about 2) pushes big sister Judy (about 15) into water. She's ready to save him if he follows her!

Picture below, Grandson Elliot... more water fun... Huntington Woods Pool, summer of 2012 or 2013