*Caveat* Let me just say that this entire scenario is an embarrassing display of bad judgment. It was testosterone motivated and should never have happened. Unfortunately, I have many such stories from my younger days.
The next day it rained and the river swelled. Jeremiah wanted to go fishing again and we went to a section of the river that was a bit deeper and less placid than Gary’s cabin. I decided on this spot for two reasons, it had always been productive when the water was high, and Jeremiah assured me that he was a strong swimmer. I told him that there was a good possibility that we would have to swim to some of the fishing spots and he said he was up for it.
We waded out waist deep and it became apparent that the swim was going to come sooner than later. The area I wanted to fish was on the other side of the run. It dropped off to about eight feet deep and was around fifty feet long before it shallowed up. I asked Jeremiah if he was ready and he gave a self-assured nod. As we pushed off into the current Jeremiah sank like a stone. He kicked to the surface just long enough to hack out a lungful of murky water. We were in a deep predicament, pun intended. Jeremiah is a corn-fed Texan. Standing about six-foot two and weighing in at two hundred and thirty pounds, this rescue was going to be a challenge. When I got close to him I received the obligatory punches and elbows of a drowning man in panic mode. I reacted by diving under him and found some purchase on the bottom. I grabbed his feet and lifted him towards the surface. This tactic worked and he was able to get a breath. The problem was, I eventually had to surface for air and when I did, Jeremiah dropped like an anchor again. Once again, I dove down, found bottom, took his feet and pushed him to the surface. We continued this scenario several more times before the current laid us up in the shallow tail out at the bottom of the run. We sat there for several minutes, stunned and spent.
Later, when Jeremiah had a family and was pastoring a church, he used this story as a metaphor of his spiritual life. He said he really thought he would be just fine. He could swim. But he had never swum in the current of a mountain river with boots on. He became helpless and desperate. He likened the situation to realizing his need for Christ. He said, “When I realized that my sinful choices had separated me from God, I felt desperation.” He said he wouldn’t be alive today without someone caring enough to dive down into his desperate situation and lift him up. “That’s what Jesus did for each of us,” he shared. “He descended into the desperation of sinful humanity and made a way, through His cross and resurrection, for each of us to be rescued, saved, lifted up from the effects of our sinful choices. We just have to stop fighting and let Him lift us up.”
There is an old hymn called Love Lifted Me that says,
“I was sinking deep in sin, far from the peaceful shore,
Very deeply stained within, sinking to rise no more.
But the Master of the sea heard my despairing cry,
From the waters lifted me now safe am I.”
We waded out waist deep and it became apparent that the swim was going to come sooner than later. The area I wanted to fish was on the other side of the run. It dropped off to about eight feet deep and was around fifty feet long before it shallowed up. I asked Jeremiah if he was ready and he gave a self-assured nod. As we pushed off into the current Jeremiah sank like a stone. He kicked to the surface just long enough to hack out a lungful of murky water. We were in a deep predicament, pun intended. Jeremiah is a corn-fed Texan. Standing about six-foot two and weighing in at two hundred and thirty pounds, this rescue was going to be a challenge. When I got close to him I received the obligatory punches and elbows of a drowning man in panic mode. I reacted by diving under him and found some purchase on the bottom. I grabbed his feet and lifted him towards the surface. This tactic worked and he was able to get a breath. The problem was, I eventually had to surface for air and when I did, Jeremiah dropped like an anchor again. Once again, I dove down, found bottom, took his feet and pushed him to the surface. We continued this scenario several more times before the current laid us up in the shallow tail out at the bottom of the run. We sat there for several minutes, stunned and spent.
Later, when Jeremiah had a family and was pastoring a church, he used this story as a metaphor of his spiritual life. He said he really thought he would be just fine. He could swim. But he had never swum in the current of a mountain river with boots on. He became helpless and desperate. He likened the situation to realizing his need for Christ. He said, “When I realized that my sinful choices had separated me from God, I felt desperation.” He said he wouldn’t be alive today without someone caring enough to dive down into his desperate situation and lift him up. “That’s what Jesus did for each of us,” he shared. “He descended into the desperation of sinful humanity and made a way, through His cross and resurrection, for each of us to be rescued, saved, lifted up from the effects of our sinful choices. We just have to stop fighting and let Him lift us up.”
There is an old hymn called Love Lifted Me that says,
“I was sinking deep in sin, far from the peaceful shore,
Very deeply stained within, sinking to rise no more.
But the Master of the sea heard my despairing cry,
From the waters lifted me now safe am I.”
Both Jeremiah and I made unwise decisions that day. I grew up swimming in mountain rivers. I have swum often to desirable fishing spots. Since this experience I have never led another person to do this. I am sure Jeremiah is more cautious about allowing testosterone to influence decisions to dive into similar situations. That said, I am grateful for God’s grace to watch over us, even when our decisions are dim-witted. My wife has often said, “Your guardian angel is going to need a vacation.”
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