Going Against The Flow

My wife and I took the kids to the river yesterday...it was a scorcher...33 degrees...we needed to get beside...and in...some cool water...the Wapiti river is our best bet.



The kids love going to the river...they play in the sand [mud] on the banks and then wash off in the cold water of the river...it is a fun time.



Yesterday as I came up to our beach towel...Bonita informed me that a young man swam across the river while I had walked up stream to float down to where we were camped on the river bank. She then went on to inform me that he had been over on the other side for around 20 minutes just sitting there.



My mind started thinking...



...I'm not THAT old...if that young whipper snapper can do it...then so can I!



I inform my wife that I am going to give it a go...she smiles gently...and waves me on.



Now if you want to slowly swim across the river...just letting the current take you a quarter of a mile down stream before you get to the other side...then crossing the river is really fairly easy.



But if you fight the current...trying to swim, literally, across the river...then it takes a lot more energy out of you.



I pounded across the river...it only took me around five minutes...give or take a minute.



When I got to the other side...I was tired...looking back across...seeing the water move with its unceasing current...sort of gave your gut a tug...



...now I knew why the young guy was sitting over here so long...



Immediately upon me hitting the far bank...the young man [Dave] moved towards me...he was further down the bank than me.



We greeted one another, he informed me that the swim had really tired him out...and I agreed.



We talked a few minutes and then I told him I was going to go for it...and took a few deep breaths...and dove in off the bank...swimming for all I was worth...fighting against the current and feeling my shoulder muscles tire quickly as I did so.



...as I neared home bank I looked up to get my bearings...I noticed everyone standing up and shouting...Dave was yelling for help and I hadn't heard him.



...he was drowning...and I was exhausted from the swim...what should I do?



In my moment of hesitation...Dave pulled it together enough to head back to the far bank...stranded by his own exhaustion and fear.

What would I have done...if he hadn't pulled it together?

My arms, shoulders and lungs were fatigued...would trying to go back across the river end up in two deaths instead of one?

If it was one of my own children...or my wife...there would be no question as to what I would have done...but this guy was a total stranger...

...what if he was more then a stranger?

...what if he was a man who murdered people close to me...how much less would be the odds of me trying to go back for him?

This only makes me marvel at the love, grace and mercy of my Lord Jesus Christ...

...He came for me in the river of death and destruction...knowing very well that there was only one way that I was going to make it out alive...and that was by Him suffering and dying in my place...

...and He did this when I hated Him...when I fought against everything He stood for...when I was His mortal enemy...

...anyone who thinks religion is for whimps really needs to take a good long look at Jesus...the bravest person who ever walked this earth...the God/man.