Deep
Water
There
are three kinds of faith in Christ: 1. Struggling faith, like a man in deep water
desperately swimming. 2. Clinging faith, like a man hanging to the side of a
boat. 3. Resting faith, like a man safely within the boat (and able to reach
out with a hand to help someone else get in).
D.L. Moody
Have
you ever been in deep water? Several
years ago my husband and I went to Cancun for vacation. We decided to take an excursion to go
snorkeling. I will say this as a preface
to my story. Learn to speak the local
language before you take a trip to another country.
So
we get to the dock to catch the ferry that would take us out to the island
where we would be snorkeling that day.
Our first clue that this might be an iffy trip was the boat they put us
on to travel to another island. This
boat (if you could call it that) was like my grandfather’s old fishing
boat. You know the kind that are
aluminum with a flat bottom. This one
had one amenity. It had a canopy that
was about 4 X 5 that only covered half of the 15 people that were on this
boat. As soon as we sat down the skipper
of this boat took off. We went bouncing
across the water at a good clip. Water
was splashing over the sides and front of the boat and we were bouncing. I was starting to get nervous. I must not have read the fine print on the
brochure that told me about the accommodations.
Anyway,
we pull up to this island and the skipper starts speaking in Spanish. The only Spanish I knew was hola, si, por
favor, and cerveza plus I could count to ten.
None of these words helped us in this situation. So they pull up to the island and I am mainly
watching the other people bail out of the boat into water that is about 3 feet
deep and so clear that you could see the bottom. So I’m thinking this isn’t so bad. I can stand in the water so how much trouble
can I get into. We look over and the
boat is leaving. I’m thinking maybe they
are just going to pick up another group and will come back for us later. Then I see all of the people in our boat
walking over to deeper water.
I
will add here that my husband decided he didn’t want a life jacket and I could
see how you would make that mistake because we were standing in 3 feet of
water. As soon as we stepped over to the
deeper water the current grabbed you and took off. So I am thinking “how are we going to get
back to the place where the boat dropped us off swimming against the current.”
After
my panic attack subsided, I looked up and all the people that were on the boat
with us are floating around the corner of this island. I’m thinking they knew something I didn’t,
(i.e. Spanish), so I started letting the current take me too. So we are in 16-20 feet of water and
snorkeling is the last thing on my mind.
My husband is swimming close to me because he doesn’t have on a life
jacket. I look over to our left and the
only thing keeping us from going to Cuba is a metal cable that is stretched
around the perimeter of this island. We
finally get to the tip of the island and as we float around the corner there
must have been over a hundred people in life jackets bobbing in the water and
twenty different boats floating around.
Did
I tell you I didn’t look at the name on our boat before we set sail so neither
of us has a clue which boat is ours? So
I am looking at this sea of people and thinking we are never going to get back
to civilization. In my panicked state, I
didn’t realize that anyone wearing a life jacket had the name of the boat on
the back of the life jacket. Can you
blame me? Then my next panicked thought
was that we would get left on this island far away from other land masses and
we would become Tom Hanks in Castaway without Wilson.
So
we are floating around with a hundred other people and the skippers of the
boats are moving through the crowd plucking people out of the water and
speaking Spanish. Our boat floated up to
us and flipped a ladder over the side for us to climb aboard. At this point I didn't care if this was our boat or not, I was getting on. As far as snorkeling
trips go, I didn’t see a fish. The only
use my snorkeling mask got was as a headband to hold my hair out of my
face.
As
I thought of this long ago trip, it made me think of the deep water we get in
on a daily basis. If our faith is not
strong enough we will get taken out with the undercurrent. How do we get a resting faith that will help
us when we get into deep water? I must depend
on Him, rely on Him and rest in Him. Unlike
my panicked state during this trip, if I am resting on my faith in God, I am
able to rest in Him. He will get me back
to shore. He is the only One who can get
me safely home.
Prayer for the Day: Heavenly
Father, I thought of this long ago trip where I got into deep water and I
panicked. If I spend time with You and
meditate on Your Word, I have no reason to panic. You will guide me, teach me and lead me in
the direction I should go. I want a
resting faith that will see me through the deep waters of life. I praise You for giving me the opportunity to
rest in You.
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