On Sundays our afternoon ministry involves taking the local youth to go swimming in the ocean!
This past week we were seeing the after effects of a tropical storm so the waves were extremely choppy. I originally had a lifejacket that I looped through my legs so I could just float on it. At one point, shortly after getting into the water, one of the boys swam up to me with a mini inflatable innertube and held onto my hand very tightly as we were going through the waves. So I asked him if he wanted my life jacket and he said, “yes, please,” so I gave it to him—he is one of the few children that speaks some English.
After giving him the life jacket he get a bit bolder, but was still hesitant and kept holding onto my hand, just not as tight. In the midst of all of this we were getting crashed upon by waves and each time that we happened to slip hands, his first thing was to look for and reach towards me.
So, while in the midst of all of these waves, God showed me a pretty cool analogy.
He showed me a beautiful example of child-like faith and trust.
He told me that Jesus is our life jacket, holding us up during the storms of life—during the highs and lows. I can trust in Jesus to hold me up and save my life in the same way that I can trust that the life jacket will save my life while out in the waves. He also said that despite having Jesus constantly watching out for me, there will be times in life that the waves and hardships of life will break my connection with God, but that He is always waiting with His arm outstretched waiting for me to grab His hand again.
I just need to reach out, just like the boy would reach out to find my outstretched hand after every time that we got disconnected while playing in the water.
So there was my lesson from Sunday. Jesus is my life jacket and when the waves of life get rough and I find myself disconnected from the perfect communion that God has intended for me, I just have to reach out and grasp His outstretched hand.
