HERE, HE'S DROWNED

It was about 1980 or slightly thereafter, and my wife and I drove a  couple hundred miles one weekend a month to visit my son and two daughters in Jacksonville; where I would play the part of “recreational dad” once a month.

Sometimes we stayed in Jacksonville, sometimes we stayed on the Navy base at Mayport (as I was in the Army National Guard at the time, and have since retired from the military), and sometimes we spent time in St. Augustine.

We were staying at a Motel 8 or Howard Johnson’s on the outskirts of Jacksonville that weekend, and decided to spend time in and around the poolside with the children on that particular evening.

There happened to be an older couple by the pool (I suppose they have long since gone on to their reward now) along with their grandson. Grandma was seated in a poolside chair, while Granddad sat on the edge with his feet dangling in the water. Their grandson looked to be about five or six. While the elderly man urged “Jacob” to remain in the shallow end of the pool, he continued to dog paddle into deeper water; which frustrated his Grandfather no end.

As a result, the old fella would get up, grab hold of the boy’s hand, and pull him back into shallow water. This scenario occurred several times over the course of a few minutes, and it was obvious that the little boy’s tenure in the pool was quickly coming to an end.

Finally, after the fourth or fifth time the little tyke piddle-paddled into the deep end of the pool, Granddad scooped up the little boy, shoved him into Grandma’s arms, and raising his voice about 50 decibels exclaimed,

“Here,… he’s drowned!!!”

Well, of course, he wasn’t. And of course, my wife and I (almost) laughed out loud!

We still remind each other of that day, and never fail to laugh out loud when we do so.

Pt. 2

I think that experience from almost half a century ago serves as a good metaphor for the lives of believers and unbelievers, alike. There is a great verse in the Book of Jonah which accents this principle.

“And the Word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time.” (Jonah 3:1)

There is a secular adage which is reminiscent of the foregoing biblical passage.

“If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.”

And then, there is another phrase which I have heard throughout my lifetime.

“It ain’t over ‘til it’s over.”

And hearkening back to that experience from so long ago, when things don’t go the way I expect them to, I sometimes have to remind myself,

“No, it isn’t drowned. I may have to return to the shallow end of the pool, and rethink my ability to ‘swim in deep water,’ but it isn’t drowned.”

I may have experienced a setback. Things may not have fallen together as I had hoped. But I am still alive, and moving and breathing, and God isn’t done with me yet. There will be more opportunities for life, ministry and impact. There will be additional people whom God will set in my pathway. I will be afforded further circumstances in which to make better decisions than I have previously made.

Like Sampson of the Old Testament, you and I may have to ‘shake ourselves,’ and expend a little more time and effort and wisdom the next time around, but I think we should stay encouraged because…

It simply isn’t drowned!

by William McDonald, PhD