SINK OR SWIM

I loved to swim when I was a kid. Pretty much every day in my preteen and early teen years I would walk or ride my bike to the community pool and stay until it closed. I even went early some days and took lifesaving classes just so I could be in the water.

 This week I found a short clip from an old movie I had never seen. I recognized only one of the actors in the scene—the late great John Wayne. The scene was of the character played by Wayne standing beside the water of a deep river. Also, there was a 6-year-old boy standing next to him announcing that he couldn’t swim. The Duke picks up the boy by the seat of his pants and hurls him in the river. The boy is flailing helplessly in the water, of course, screaming once again that he can’t swim. John Wayne’s character simply, calmly says, “Just reach out with your hands, grab a handful of water and draw it to you.” Reach out. Take hold. Draw in.

This past Sunday, our pastor who is preaching a series from the book of Philippians, read this “I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.”  (Phil. 3:13) I thought about the John Wayne movie clip and recognized a metaphor I could use for this concept. Reach out. Take hold. Draw in.

As I thought about it more, I realized that there might be one piece in this swim metaphor, though, that is missing for us believers. Yes, if we reach out and take hold, we can stay afloat, but there seems to be a need for something else…momentum…propulsion… otherwise we just continue treading water, barely surviving, hoping we won’t drown. Reaching out, taking hold, drawing in needs one additional stroke…pushing the water behind us.  This will not only keep our heads above water but keep us moving forward in a positive direction. Part of the same Philippians passage that illustrates this is “forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” (v. 14)

I know that sometimes we only have the strength to stay afloat and for the moment that might be enough to survive, but at some point, there is a need to move on. Old Testament prophet Isaiah says this…”Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.” Isaiah 43:18.

Our pasts can not only weigh us down, but can keep us from moving onward “for the prize of the upward call of God…” Let’s don’t sink or swim just to keep from going under, but continue paddling on toward the prize.