In The Blink Of An Eye

In The Blink Of An Eye
It amazes me from time to time just how fast things can happen. Tonight we were enjoying a beautiful evening at a relatives house, celebrating Tylers 11th birthday with a pool party, good food and plenty of hyper boys. They spent time swimming and then eating and then back to swimming. In the course of the evening while I was talking to another relative about ministry, my youngest son came up to me and said he was done swimming and wanted me to take his life jacket off of him. I did and wrapped him up in a towel to warm up and went back to talking.

It was about 15 minutes later I hear Lisa yelling at one of the boys, saying: "Get him!! Get him!!" The fear in her voice caused me to jump to my feet and start heading her direction when I saw Ethan just going under the surface of the water unable to touch and NO lifejacket. It seemed all very slow motion for me but before I knew it I was jumping into the pool fully clothed to get him above water. I took him to the side as he gagged and coughed. I set him on the edge of the pool and all I could do was hug him, It scared the crap out of me to see his little face struggling to get above water to take a breath.

As I stood there in the pool hugging him, he said to me, " I couldn't breathe..." I hugged him again and sent him over to mom. It was at that moment I realized that I wasn't dressed to be in the pool, including my wallet, iPhone and keys. Somehow I didn't really care, in the instant I was on pure reaction to get my kid safe and sound. I don't think it bothered Ethan as much as it did Lisa and I. It really bothered me that I was the one that took his life jacket off in the first place. Thing is there was about 20 or so of us standing around and no one saw him go in except for his cousin who came and told us as we began to realize what was happening. It only took a second for a happy occasion to turn tense and dangerous.

I rode my motorcycle home from the party which gave me plenty of time to think about the events of the night. This will sound bad, but tonight I soaked everything in my wallet, soaked, maybe ruined my dress shoes, trashed my iPhone (which was borrowed)...........But none of that matters because I still have my son. I would do anything to make sure he is safe. Jumping into a pool isn't dangerous, but the truth is I would do it a thousand times over, even risking my life to save his. So if I, a sinful wretched miserable soul could do that, how much more could my Heavenly Father go out of His way to save me. For me, tonight was a huge reminder of how much God has done to rescue his children from the depths of death.

Father thank you for keeping Ethan safe, and thank you for rescuing me from death through your son Jesus Christ.